British heavyweight Dillian Whyte’s recent public press release which ultimately cleared him of any wrongdoing is still a sore topic amongst fans.
Whyte was confirmed to have tested positive for steroids over the summer by the UK Anti-Doping in a statement on Friday.
UKAD revealed the levels were minute and that they had accepted Whyte’s explanation of how they got into his system.
“The charge was brought after a sample provided by Mr. Whyte on 20 June 2019 indicated the presence of two metabolites of a steroid,” confirmed the Agency. “UKAD initiated an investigation with which Mr. Whyte cooperated fully.
“UKAD has accepted the explanation provided by Mr. Whyte and, in accordance with the UK Anti-Doping Rules, the charge against Mr. Whyte has been withdrawn.”
Questions are now being raised as to how that conversation actually went and what Whyte said to clear his name.
Social media buzz over the lengthy ‘joint statement’ is ongoing despite Whyte winning his comeback fight in Saudi Arabia.
If Whyte was willing to make an explanation to UKAD, one that satisfied them and ultimately cleared him, he should give the same explanation to the public and his fans.”
“UKAD has accepted the explanation given by Mr Whyte”. Just throw the organisation in the bin ffs. No money, no morals, no authority. Just shambolic.
“Where are the b-sample result?
What was Whyte’s explanation?
What was contaminated?”
“Would be good to have an explanation of why UKAD feels the metabolites in question were “indicative of an isolated contamination event… not suggestive of doping”. Whyte’s a pretty big name now and it feels to me that someone has put pressure on UKAD to release this statement.”
As some asked questions, others jumped to the defense of Whyte.
They want ‘The Bodysnatcher’ left alone to continue his career and blame UKAD for the long delay.
“The maddest thing is how long its taken to effectively accept an explanation. There MUST be a shakeup at UKAD …. the process is absolutely shocking and has cost Whyte his 2020 WBC shot. Not good enough.”
“Dillian Whyte cleared by UKAD – they’ve accepted the explanation by DW and his team – therefore everyone else has to, quick to condemn be quicker to apologise and appease imo. Also if the dubious accept this then they must accept Canelo, Pac-Man, Povetkin etc etc etc.”
Whyte was massively overweight as he defeated Mariusz Wach on points in an undercard fight on Andy Ruiz Jr. vs Anthony Joshua 2.
BUSINESS
The 31 year-old blamed six months of stress over his future as the catalyst. With a huge 2020 now in the offing, Whyte has vowed to get back to business.
“I boxed nowhere near my standard. I’ve been off for six months. People have been screwing me left and right for the last six months,” said Whyte. My mind hasn’t been in the right place but I carried on training.
“I took this fight on three weeks’ notice, came in about a stone and half overweight but with my defense and stuff, I knew I could get through him. I wanted to stop him but he’s tough.
“It’s just good to be back in there. Everyone has been screwing me apart from a handful of people. I’ve been through hell these past couple of months but we are here!”
On the UKAD statement, he added: “Everyone was treating me like a hero for beating Oscar Rivas to then be treated like a nobody. My team, Eddie and Sky stuck by me.
“Sorry guys for not getting the knockout but like I said, I feel great to have even made it to the fight because where I was two or three months ago was a dark place.
“I thought about walking away from boxing. A few times I thought, ‘You know, I’ve made a bit of money, I can take it, run off into the night and live my life.’”
Phil Jay is the Editor of World Boxing News.
