Oh, here we go again! Another big fight, another “adverse” finding in a fighter’s drugs test. It’s been reported that the Anthony Joshua-Dillian Whyte rematch, set for next Saturday night in London, is now off, this because Whyte’s drugs test was found to contain “adverse analytical findings,” this following an anti-doping test carried out by Voluntary Anti-Doping Association. Sky News reports how Joshua is now looking for a late replacement foe so the show at The O2 can still go ahead as scheduled.
35 year old Whyte has not yet made any public response to this upsetting news. But Eddie Hearn has spoken, with the promoter stating how a “full investigation” will now follow.
This is of course bad news; for Whyte, for Joshua, for the entire sport. Fans are, let’s get it straight, sick to the back teeth of fighters taking illegal stimulants and then getting busted. Okay, as if right now, Whyte has to be given the benefit of the doubt, we do not know the full facts and Whyte could well be an innocent victim of some kind of error or who knows what else. But fan reaction will be extremely negative and understandably so.
We must now await further developments and see what happens as far as Whyte’s future is concerned.
As for AJ, it has already been suggested that he could now fight Gerald Washington next week. Washington was set to fight Derek Chisora, so this late replacement fight would make sense in as much as Washington will be in shape and ready to go. No, this is not a good match-up, but as far as late replacement materiel, it’s not ‘that’ bad.
Would fans like to see this fight if it meant the show could be saved? Or would YOU rather see the whole card shifted to another date? But will Whyte get his name cleared and be able to box again? At this point, we just don’t know. Again, this has really come as a bad blow for the sport. Yes, another one.