Eddie Hearn has called on UK Anti-Doping to issue a statement about Dillian Whyte and end the saga of the heavyweight’s adverse doping test, which has now drifted on for five months.
It was revealed that Whyte produced an adverse test ahead of his points win over Oscar Rivas in July. A meeting of the National Anti-Doping Panel, held on the morning of the fight, cleared Whyte to box.
But there was no public statement by UKAD and no follow-up, leaving doubt about whether Whyte could face any action or not.
In the meantime, Whyte, who won the interim WBC heavyweight title that night against Rivas, has his first fight since when he faces Mariusz Wach on Saturday on the undercard of the Andy Ruiz-Anthony Joshua rematch in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, with Hearn admitted his increasing frustration at the lack of any official statement by UKAD.
“There were a lot of rumours he was banned, but he has not been banned, there has been no further movement since the fight,” Hearn said. “We were told that UKAD would issue a statement in October. That hasn’t come yet.
“I don’t want to pass the buck, but I have left it to him. Since the fight he has been dealing with his lawyers. I say to him all the time, any chance of anything coming out? ‘We’re pushing, we’re pushing’, hopefully this [his fight with Wach] will trigger them to do something.
“Right now he is not suspended, he was cleared of everything, but there still needs to be some kind of statement from them on the case, on the hearing. It can’t just be me.”
Whyte’s fight with Wach was only announced last week and Hearn said it was only decided he would box on the bill two weeks before, the time between the two spent looking for an opponent and agreeing a purse.
But Hearn said he fears that there by months to come before UKAD draws a line under the case.
We do know there was a hearing for adverse finding in front of the National Anti-Doping Panel, the evidence was produced, he wasn’t suspended and is cleared to fight,” Hearn said.
Still, I would much prefer, to stop questions, them coming out and doing something. You saw the Ryan Martin case, it took them a year. How long did Tyson Fury’s case take? The only difference with all those cases is [Whyte] has had his hearing and he was cleared to fight.
“I can't see how they could let an individual fight and then go back on that. The British Boxing Board of Control have given Dillian the licence to box because their licence is mirrored off UKAD’s decision. If he's not cleared to box or if he's suspended, the British Boxing Board of Control would not give him clearance to box this weekend, and they have.”