Eddie Hearn, promoter for former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, believes the possibility of a rematch with Dillian Whyte is gone forever.
In December of 2015, Joshua knocked Whyte out in seven rounds.
The rematch was scheduled to take place this coming Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London.
However, last Saturday, Hearn would reveal on social media that Whyte was being pulled from the fight after receiving information that there were “adverse findings” in Whyte’s drug testing protocol with VADA.
Whyte has since been replaced by Robert Helenius.
In an interview with IFL TV, Hearn revealed that Whyte had come up positive for a performance enhancing drug. After being placed on notice by Whyte’s legal team, the veteran promoter is unable to disclose the details of VADA’s report or the involved substance(s).
When approached with the question of “in your mind, is this fight gone forever?” – Hearn confirmed that it was.
“Yeah, I think so. I don’t know what Dillian is gonna do or how he’s gonna go about this situation – but it’s a huge, huge fight on his hands. We’ve been a year, over a year, in process with Conor Benn [and his positive drug tests]. He’s now been reinstated in the WBC rankings, he’s had his suspension lifted and cleared by UKAD and we’re just coming out the other side of it.. you know, 12 or 13 months on,” Hearn explained to Boxing With Chris Mannix.
“You can imagine that Dillian Whyte has to go through a similar process with a different set of results and analysis that we’ve seen. And at that age [of 35], you know, is that a process that [Whyte] can come through the other side of.
“We wish him all the best. And again, I was surprised. You always believe and you want to believe in those people [who test positive]. It’s not something that I would expect from him, knowing the meticulous way that he goes about his work and how careful he is after previous incidences that he was exonerated for, but you also can’t ignore it and it has to be dealt with.”
This is the third drug testing scandal in Whyte’s career. He was banned for two years in connection to a positive drug test in 2012, and he also tested positive for a banned substance in 2019 but was ultimately cleared of those charges by UKAD.