Nathan Heaney is well-known for his passionate fanbase, and it was one of his supporters who this week broke news to him that his fight with Sofiane Khati had recently been changed to a No Contest because Khati failed his doping test on the night.
The result of the contest was changed on the record-keeping website BoxRec on August 15, with Khati being banned by the BBBofC for three months.
Heaney was upset in the seventh-round by the Frenchman at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena on the February bill topped by heavyweights Derek Chisora and Otto Wallin.
While the middleweight Heaney was pleased with the news, he was not surprised.
“Well, it’s strange because I had slight suspicions anyway,” Heaney told BoxingScene.
“He didn’t test positive for an actual performance enhancing drug as such. It was THC, so he must be smoking weed or something. But either way, he’s going to be doing it.”
Carboxy-THC, a tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) metabolite, is found in cannabis.
“I should be saying you test positive for a bad substance and that’s it. And that’s essentially what has happened. It’s a weird one,” he said.
Heaney is now 19-1-1 (7 KOs, 1 NC).
He came back to defeat Grant Dennis on points over eight two weeks ago, with a homecoming of sorts at the King’s Hall in his hometown of Stoke.
“The whole thing’s mad. Like, I don’t think the guys at Warrens [Queensberry Promotions] didn’t know about it until I announced it yesterday. I don’t think even they knew about it, to be honest. Whether the Board [knew] at all, I have not got a clue. But the only reason I even knew about it is one of my supporters saw it on BoxRec and it was a No Contest, and it was like a banned substance and stuff. It’s weird. I mean, it is getting ridiculous [the amount of people testing positive].”
Heaney, who still has significant ambitions of world title fights and headlining at the Potteries, home of Stoke City FC, was pleased enough to defeat Dennis on July 26.
“Well, I’ve won my last fight anyway, so that’s good,” he added.
“That’s the most important thing. I need to win again to see if I can still perform. But also, it probably makes me feel a little bit better as well, because obviously, if you get put down in fights [Khati dropped Heaney in the seventh] and stuff, you think to yourself, ‘is your fight going’ or ‘is he chinny?’ I know I’m not chinny. I’m not a chinny fighter. But you have to look at it realistically. But then, when he tested positive, all of a sudden you’re thinking, ‘Well, he could be on something else.’ And that could be a reason why something’s happened. But yeah, it does certainly change things.”
There are contracts out there that can see defeated fighters have their ties cut by promoters. A No Contest is different.
“Well, yeah, but I’m lucky anyway with Frank [Warren] because they’ve looked after me anyway,” added Heaney.
“They have looked after me, like they let me fight on the Kings Hall show [last month], which was originally meant to be a BoxNation show. But something, whatever happened, that fell through. So then obviously, [they spoke to] BCB Promotions, my manager Errol Johnson [and] said, ‘Well, can you put the show on?’ And I'm like, ‘Yeah, that’s fine.’ And they let me obviously fight on there. So that was good. But yeah, it does change things a little bit.”
Heaney, however, is looking at boxing through a different prism now, though.
“I don't think I trust any fighters, to be honest, anymore, I just don’t. It’s certain things, I think. I trust myself, and that’s it.”
