Heavyweight contender Lawrence Okolie tests positive for doping, Paris fight with Tony Yoka canceled

LONDON (AP) — Heavyweight title contender Lawrence Okolie failed a drugs test ahead of his fight scheduled Saturday against former Olympic champion Tony Yoka.

The bout’s promoter Queensberry announced the positive test Tuesday without giving further details about the case, and later canceled the entire show in Paris.

Okolie wrote in a social media post: “I will of course be fully cooperating with all relevant authorities and I’m confident any investigation will clear my name.”

The 33-year-old British boxer faces a ban of up to four years unless he can prove he was not to blame for the positive doping test.

Okolie is a former world champion at cruiserweight who moved up to heavyweight. He is the No. 1-ranked contender by the WBC whose belt is held by Oleksandr Usyk.

“I truly hope sense prevails,” Okolie wrote Tuesday. “Before anyone starts imagining the worst, following my bicep injury last year, I sustained an elbow injury on the same arm during this camp. I had a treatment on it and now we are here.”

Queensberry said Okolie was tested by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) ahead of the Paris show at Porte de La Chapelle.

Okolie’s intended opponent Yoka took the super-heavyweight gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Yoka served a one-year ban imposed by the French anti-doping agency in 2018 for failing to give a doping sample three times in a one-year period.

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