Tyson Fury could be stripped of his world heavyweight title belts after allegedly testing positive for cocaine.
Fury, who last week pulled out of a rematch with former champion Wladimir Klitschko on October 29, is reported to have failed a drugs test on September 22.
He and Klitschko had agreed to be tested by the Las Vegas-based Voluntary Anti-Doping Association who are said to have told Fury that the substance benzoylecgonine, the central compound in cocaine, was found in his sample.
Fury, 28, has the right to ask for his ‘B’ sample to be tested but the WBA, WBO and IBO may strip him of the titles he won in his upset win over Klitschko last November if that is positive, too.
Bernd Bonte, Klitschko’s manager, said: ‘If this is true, Fury is the most unworthy of all the heavyweight champions.’
Hennessy Sports, Fury’s promoter, declined to comment.
The alleged positive test may arouse suspicions about the claim he was medically unfit for this month’s rematch.
Fury already faced a drugs charge by the UK’s anti-doping body after claims he had traces of the performance-enhancing nandrolone in a urine sample in February 2015.
He would not be the first world heavyweight champion to be stripped of a title for doping.
James Toney had his WBA belt taken away in May 2005 and Francois Botha lost the IBF title in 1995, both for failed drugs tests.
Daily Mail