“It was a very, very tough watch,” admitted Kal Yafai. “I was very frustrated because obviously all the weeks of talking about it and what the game plan and what we’re going to; what he’s going to do; all this kind of stuff.”

Yafai was watching from ringside as his brother, Galal, a former Olympic gold medalist, lost his unbeaten record and suffered a horrible beating at the hands of the visiting Mexican Francisco Rodriguez. 

Yafai is a good fighter. He can punch. He was being moved quickly, but knew a fight like Rodriguez would be a hard night.

“He’s Mexican,” Galal told BoxingScene during fight week. “He’s tough. He’s going to come forward. He’s stubborn. He’s not going to give in, and he should make for a good fight.” 

Yafai had no way of knowing what he was going to be faced with in Birmingham, in front of his own fans.

Rodriguez was relentless. He broke CompuBox numbers. He didn’t let up. He hammered away at the Olympian brutally through 12 one-sided rounds. There were many points when those watching felt the fight could have been stopped. Yafai’s heart, courage, and stamina kept him in it.

Suggestions and accusations were made from observers about Rodriguez and his performance. It was almost unbelievable.

The Mexican walked through everything Yafai threw and attacked with more ferocity. Then, covering up, Yafai waited for Rodriguez to stop throwing shots so he could counter, but the Mexican did not let up. Wave after wave of leather crashed into Yafai’s head and body.

When CompuBox sent out their statistics post-fight, they did so with the notes: “Unreal numbers put up in this one between Francisco Rodriguez and Galal Yafai. Rodriguez was 575 of 1089, 53 per cent and Yafai was 230 of 795, 34 per cent. The power punch numbers were huge, Rodriguez went 528 of 969, 54 per cent while Yafai went 189 of 559, 34 per cent. Rodriguez set the flyweight record for total punches landed in a 12-round fight. Yafai was brave and took several big shots, he finally hit the canvas in the final round. Scores were 119-108 twice and 118-109.”

The previous record had been set by Giovani Segura, who landed more than 100 punches less at 474 with his 12th-round stoppage of Hernan Marquez in 2013.

On Wednesday, Matchroom – Yafai’s promoters – posted an announcement that the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association had informed them and the British Boxing Board of Control that Rodriguez had returned an adverse analytical finding from fight night.

Two sources told BoxingScene that each fighter was only tested twice, once in camp and once on fight night, and it was the fight night test that Rodriguez had flunked.

The stimulant heptaminol, which is known to boost an athlete’s stamina, increase blood flow to the muscles, can help combat fatigue, boost alertness and can also be used as a masking agent, was found in his system.

It doesn’t have to be used in training sessions, but it can be used as a one off for an event to improve performance. 

Earlier that morning, Kal Yafai, Galal’s older brother, a 2008 Olympian and former WBA junior-bantamweight champion, woke up to a string of messages and a missed call from Galal.

Then his wife told him: “I’ve just spoke to your mum. You need to ring your brother as soon as you wake up.”

Kal said he knew what it was about straight away. Then Kal got through to his younger brother, who had been on the phone to his coach, Robert McCracken.

McCracken calling that early was unusual.

“As soon I answered the phone, I just went to him, ‘Yeah, I know Rob. I think he’s failed the tests, hasn’t he?’” said Galal. 

“Yeah,” replied McCracken.

“I’ve been waiting for this day for the last couple of weeks,” said Galal.

A range of emotions swept through the Yafais. Rage was up there, but also regret and resentment.

They couldn’t undo the 12 rounds of punishment Galal took – the kind of damage that could alter a career and certainly shorten it.

That is something the family spoke about in the aftermath of the fight. It was that troubling.

“A hundred per cent,” Kal adds.

“I’m not saying it because it’s my brother, but he’s a very special fighter. I know a lot of people didn’t see that then, but on the night of the fight, when you see what he’s actually capable of doing and what he does, it’s like, I was just shocked, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on the night. I had no words.”

Neither did Galal.

Groggy and concussed in the changing room afterwards, Yafai felt sick, complained of headaches, and said he felt he should go to hospital, but before all of that he said to his brother: “Make sure he gets tested. He definitely needs to get tested.”

Even since the fight, Galal has spoken to Kal, adamant Rodriguez was not clean; unable to understand what had happened.

“‘Kal, I’ve sparred and I’ve boxed a lot of guys, you know, sparred big guys, strong, really strong world champions, whatever, two, three, four weights above’,” Galal told him. “‘I’ve never been hit like that.’ And that’s why he was adamant.”

*

“It was a tough watch, even for me,” said Kal, who has seen more than his fair share, amateur and pro. “I think [middle brother] Gamal looked at me, I think it was round nine, or 10. And he’s like, ‘Oh, you might have to go around to the corner, you know’. Like, ‘You’re going to have to pull this’. But I just waited for about 10, 15 seconds. And then he kind of threw something back; landed it. And then he kind of moves out of the way. And I just, I was like, ‘He’s okay’. I know Galal better than anyone. So I just knew that he’ll be able to see it through and not to say too much, but obviously he got dropped in the last round.”

Even then, the brothers were tempted to step in, but Kal acknowledged that afterwards, by the time they were in the locker-room, Galal “was in a bad way”.

Galal was getting stitches and complaining of nausea. The three brothers went to hospital; Galal was throwing up in the back of the ambulance.
In Birmingham, late on a Saturday night, Galal waited hours – among the drunks and the rabbles that poured in after a night in the bars and clubs – to be seen.

“Anybody from Birmingham who knows what Heartland Hospital is, it’s horrendous,” said Kal. “On a Saturday night, you’ve got people who are absolutely pissed out of their faces; you’ve got crackheads… It was just like about 100 people squashed in a tiny waiting area and it looked like a disaster out there. Everyone’s pushing for medical help and there was hours and hours to wait, but I said to one of the doctors: ‘He needs to be seen. He’s just had this 12-round fight; it’s been horrendous. He needs to be seen ASAP.’”

Galal was given the all-clear and the CT scan was fine, although he still complained of headaches and he had a perforated eardrum.

Two weeks on, Kal says: “I think he’s just about getting over it. It was that bad.”

Rodriguez is also the second of his opponents who failed a drugs test. The late Moises Caleros was found to have cocaine in his system when they fought. So 20 per cent of Yafai’s opponents – he is 9-1 (7KOs) – have failed tests.

Kal thinks his brother’s WBC interim title should be returned to him, and that he should still get a shot at the full champion, Kazuto Ioka – and he has always had a zero-tolerance attitude towards drugs cheats.

“I’ve always had this strong belief that once you pop, that’s it,” he said. “You’re done. You’re banned for life.”

Yafai suspects that doping and the use of performance enhancers in boxing could be rife.

“Whether it’s drugs, whether it’s people getting on the drips after weigh-ins all that stuff… I think it’s all completely rife because when I see fighters and I see what they were before making the weight and then they make the weight and how they looked and all of a sudden, they look a million dollars the next night, I know the process,” he said. “And I was one of them fighters that lived like an absolute monk to make the weight and do what I needed to do.

“And I couldn't recover properly the next day, so I don’t know how some of these guys all of a sudden are Superman the next day. I know 100 per cent that there’s loads that, and there's probably more – more than what you think. That’s the crazy thing.” 

The WBC informed BoxingScene that “due process” was being undertaken and an investigation is underway. 

The British Boxing Board of Control would not comment on the matter, but acknowledged Rodriguez could yet have his B-sample tested.

At the time of this writing, BoxingScene understands that that request had not been made.