Lineal heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury finally enrolled in the WBC’s Clean Boxing Program on Monday.
Fury is due to challenge world titleholder Deontay Wilder for that sanctioning body’s heavyweight world title belt on Dec. 1 in the main event of a Showtime PPV card at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Although the deal for the fight was completed a couple of weeks ago and the fighters finished their three-city, two-country media tour last week, Fury had not yet enrolled.
The WBC mandates that the all of its titleholders and contenders participate in the random drug testing program overseen by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association. If a fighter does not enroll, he is not eligible to fight for a WBC title or in a WBC sanctioned bout.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told ESPN on Sunday that he was not aware that Fury had not yet enrolled in the program and said that he would get in touch with Fury and his team immediately, and that if he did not enroll the fight would not be sanctioned by the WBC.
On Monday, Sulaiman announced that Fury had taken care of it.
“Tyson Fury has sent WBC Clean Boxing Program enrollment forms to VADA,” he said.
Wilder co-manager Shelly Finkel confirmed to ESPN he had been notified that Fury’s paperwork for the program was complete.
Wilder has been enrolled in the program all along and now with Fury also in, both are expected to participate in a specialized testing protocol that goes beyond the somewhat limited scope of the WBC’s Clean Boxing Program.
Lou DiBella, Wilder’s promoter, told ESPN that he has contacted Dr. Margaret Goodman, the president of VADA, on Monday about a drug testing program specific to the bout.
“It’s very quick to start up the program,” DiBella said. “Now that Fury’s paperwork is in and he is enrolled, we can start it almost immediately. Everything will get worked out this week now that the paperwork is in and then the testing can start. As soon as I found out that Fury sent in his forms, I sent Margaret an email and we will talk about getting the program set up.”
With a little less than two months until the fight, a testing program tailored for Wilder and Fury’s fight would start right around the same time that these programs normally would.
Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs), who will be making his eighth title defense, has long been a strong advocate for a testing program specific to each of his fights, in part because he has had three previous bouts canceled or had to find a new opponent because his original foe failed a drug test.
Fury (27-0, 19 KOs) has a checkered drug testing history. He failed two VADA tests for cocaine in 2016, which forced the cancelation of his rematch with Wladimir Klitschko, whom he had upset by decision to win three world titles belts and the lineal championship in November 2015.
England’s Fury also has failed a UK Anti-Doping test for the performance-enhancing steroid Nandrolone related to a 2015 fight – a fight that took place before he faced Klitschko – whose results were not disclosed until June 2016. Fury eventually accepted a backdated two-year ban from UKAD.