Fury won’t lose world title over doping allegation says WBC chief

(FILES) In this file photo taken on February 22, 2020 British boxer Tyson Fury celebrates after defeating US boxer Deontay Wilder in the seventh round during their World Boxing Council (WBC) Heavyweight Championship Title boxing match at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (Photo by Mark RALSTON / AFP)

Tyson Fury’s reign as world heavyweight champion will not be ended by new claims over an alleged drug-testing scam, according to WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman.

It was alleged in a Mail on Sunday report a farmer was offered money to provide an alibi for Fury’s failed drugs test in 2015.

Fury and his cousin Hughie tested positive for nandrolone in 2015, which they subsequently blamed on eating uncastrated wild boar meat, citing a farmer called Martin Carefoot who claimed to have provided them with the product.

After an expensive and elongated stand-off with UK Anti-Doping, Fury and Hughie received retrospective two-year bans and were able to resume their careers in December 2017.

In the Mail report, Carefoot denied having provided the Fury team with the meat, insisting he was offered £25,000 to make up the story in order to aid their case.

But Sulaiman, whose WBC belt Fury won against Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas last month, said the allegations would have “no impact” on his reign as champion.

“Personally, I prefer to believe Tyson Fury ahead of someone who has already admitted to lying in legal documents for financial gain,” Sulaiman told The Sun.

“The person who has claimed he accepted money to lie should be the one on trial, in my personal opinion, especially when he has waited five years to tell his story.

“Secondly, around this time Tyson was not involved with the WBC, he did not fight Klitschko for the WBC belt, it was for other titles, so this issue does not impact on him being our heavyweight world champion.”

Fury’s promoter Frank Warren, who was not involved at the time, told The Sun he had previously been sent letters by Carefoot.

“Tyson has never ever met this man and his story is total b******t,” Warren said.