Okolie Test Failure Scraps Paris Card With Yoka

Queensberry Promotions pulled the plug on Saturday's Paris card after Lawrence Okolie registered an adverse finding in a performance-enhancing drug test administered by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.

Okolie was set to face French heavyweight Tony Yoka in the 12-round main event, with DAZN streaming globally. The card also featured a WBC welterweight/" class="internal-link text-bone underline decoration-ash/30 hover:decoration-gold underline-offset-2">super welterweight eliminator between Bakary Samake and Ermal Hadribeaj.

Okolie Blames Elbow Treatment For Positive Test

The London heavyweight, who is the WBC's top contender for Oleksandr Usyk's Ring, IBF, WBA and WBC titles, posted on Instagram that he sustained an elbow injury during camp on the same arm that required biceps treatment last year. "I had a treatment on it and now we are here," Okolie wrote, per The Ring. "I truly hope sense prevails."

Okolie added that he would cooperate fully with authorities and was confident an investigation would clear him. Both he and Yoka scored knockout wins against overmatched opposition in Nigeria on Dec. 21 before agreeing to the Paris bout.

Yoka, who won Olympic gold in his hometown at the 2016 Games, holds a 15-3 record with 12 knockouts but is not ranked in the WBC's top 15. Okolie is 23-1 with 17 stoppages and was angling for a shot at Usyk, who defends against Rico Verhoeven on May 23 in Egypt.

Source: ringmagazine.com