Lawrence Okolie vs. Tony Yoka | DAZN - 25 April 2026 (CANCELLED)

[SeanBrennan]

They’re growth hormone releasing peptides

I have no idea what he’s failed for though

[SeanBrennan]

Sorry poor memory remembered it’s been confirmed

[SeanBrennan]

Ghrp2 and ghrp6 are commonly used in bodybuilding strongman etc

[SeanBrennan]

You’d normally run ghrp2 with cjc1295 so bit odd to pop for one

[Ruthless-RKO]

Ghrp2 isn’t a weight gainer

What advantages would it give him ?

Healing and recovery

Says human growth hormone

[Ruthless-RKO]

he's changed his name..

to


'The Juice'

[keithmoonhangover]

he's changed his name..

to


'The Juice'

Very good.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Why Lawrence Okolie’s fight to clear his name might now be difficult

As is often the case with these things, it didn’t take long for heavyweight Lawrence Okolie to follow news of an adverse finding in a performance-enhancing drug test with a social media post.

In fact, within just an hour of us learning that his WBC heavyweight title eliminator against Tony Yoka this Saturday was in danger of being cancelled due to a positive test, Okolie had jumped on Instagram to explain himself.

In his statement, posted Tuesday morning, the 33-year-old said: “Before anyone starts imagining the worst, following my bicep injury last year, I sustained an elbow injury on the same arm during this camp. I had a treatment on it and now we are here. I truly hope sense prevails.

“I will of course be fully cooperating with all relevant authorities and I’m confident any investigation will clear my name.

“I won’t be making any further comment at this time. Thank you for all your support and see you soon.”

As one might expect, Okolie said all the right things, even including an image of his injured arm in the post. He also said the right amount – just enough, but not too much. It is, after all, not the job of the fighter to now sort this situation out and decipher both (a) how it happened and (b) how it should be resolved.

That decision could rest with the World Boxing Council (WBC), a sanctioning body whose history of resolution in such cases is, like the sport itself, somewhat erratic. In the past, they have on occasion been sympathetic towards boxers who have blamed a positive test on contamination, or ingesting a banned substance through a supplement, and as a result plenty of boxers have claimed that as a reason for their positive test. Famously, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez used this excuse in 2018, while more recently we have seen Subriel Matias take the same approach to getting his name cleared. Matias, of course, was allowed to proceed with a WBC junior-welterweight title fight against Dalton Smith in January despite having failed a test for ostarine in November, with the amount of ostarine in his system deemed negligible.

However, the good news is that things seemed to have changed on that front, according to the WBC. Last December, at a convention in Bangkok, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman announced some amendments to their Clean Boxing Program designed to prevent boxers from claiming that they unknowingly ingested a banned substance through a supplement or equivalent. He said that following “long and extensive” scientific investigations the WBC had formulated a list of products they know are at risk of contamination and that from February 2026 every boxer enrolled in the Clean Boxing Program – and to be ranked in the top 15 by the WBC, enrolment is mandatory – will be informed of those at-risk supplements. In theory, with this knowledge to hand, there can then be no excuse for a failed test.

Those changes, which came into effect on February 1, could have led to the cancellation of Matias vs. Smith had they arrived a bit sooner. They could also now have a direct impact on the future of Lawrence Okolie, the WBC silver heavyweight beltholder.

“They’re in danger of having an adverse finding [if they take a supplement on the list] and because they were aware of the danger [of taking a supplement containing a banned substance] the case against them is much stronger,” Sulaiman explained to BS in December. “They will no longer be able to claim that they did not know they could have it [in their system].

“Today [in December] they claim, and rightfully so, that they didn’t know. But now they know this is a potential risk of getting an anti-doping violation.

“All these cases [of positive tests], the boxer discloses what they are taking,” Sulaiman continued. “They are not hiding it. When we do a test, the boxer taking that test will be given a form that asks them to [stipulate] what they are using right now.

“The boxer will then write down all the supplements they are taking. They sign it; they do the test. When there is an adverse finding, we look at that list and we can see that [in many cases] the supplement that we know [can be contaminated] has been listed. He didn’t know. Then we investigate further. But now they can’t claim they didn’t know. It will be much stricter. They can no longer claim they didn’t know.”

Of course, as good as this sounds, the fear is that those supplying will remain ahead of those testing. If, for example, a supplement company finds that their products are now on the WBC’s at-risk list, it surely won’t take much to manufacture a new product that isn’t.

“There will still be issues,” Sulaiman said, before suggesting that new supplements will be examined as they come to market. “Doping is very complicated and each substance is different and the education will be ongoing. This new protocol is key. Every boxer who enrols on the Clean Boxing Program will now know the expectations of them. We will ensure there can be no mistakes made.

“The Program is eight years old; it was perhaps a little dated. This represents a significant improvement.”

[SeanBrennan]

What advantages would it give him ?

Healing and recovery

Says human growth hormone

Ghrp2 is like a Teemu version of human growth hormone. It’s a growth hormone releasing peptides not an external growth hormone

[Ruthless-RKO]

Healing and recovery

Says human growth hormone

Ghrp2 is like a Teemu version of human growth hormone. It’s a growth hormone releasing peptides not an external growth hormone

[MPW]

With regard to punishment, I don't care what happens to Okolie as long as its significant, especially in light of how this affects the other boxers on a fight card that is now cancelled. Not postponed to another date, but cancelled. I assume none of them will get paid, or, if they do, it will be a fraction of what their purse would have been.

[WestEndRiot]

Such a strange decision to cancel. Surely Okolie wasn't responsible for many tickets sales. And it wouldn't have been too difficult to find a top 30 heavyweight to give Yoka a competitive fight on a card where he is the biggest draw

[Ruthless-RKO]

Such a strange decision to cancel. Surely Okolie wasn't responsible for many tickets sales. And it wouldn't have been too difficult to find a top 30 heavyweight to give Yoka a competitive fight on a card where he is the biggest draw

Unless Yoka fights Itauma in July.

[keithmoonhangover]

Such a strange decision to cancel. Surely Okolie wasn't responsible for many tickets sales. And it wouldn't have been too difficult to find a top 30 heavyweight to give Yoka a competitive fight on a card where he is the biggest draw

Tony's been badly advised for most of his professional career. Late replacements tend to perform better than expected. Personally, I think the right thing is to cancel his fight. The show should have gone ahead.

[Kilburn]

Such a shame. As horrible as some of Okolie’s fights have been, I’ve usuallly managed to approach each one with a sense of optimism about what he might bring on the night.

He is well and truly out of the picture now.

[Ruthless-RKO]

FRANK~WARREN 'VERY DISAPPOINTED' AFTER OKOLIE'S FAILED DRUG TEST

French heavyweight Tony Yoka will be delivered a quick return to action after Lawrence Okolie's failed drug test forced the cancellation of their scheduled Paris clash.

The pair were due to meet in the main event of the Queensberry Promotions event in the French capital on April 25.

But the whole thing collapsed on the Monday of fight week when it was confirmed that Okolie had returned an adverse finding in a VADA test.

Now promoter allegedly has broken his silence on the situation, which he branded a "a very, very big disappointment."

During a media roundtable on Thursday, Warren told The Ring: "I'm very disappointed with that but it is what it is.

"It will have to take its course when the Board of Control and UKAD call for the hearing. They will have to go through the procedure. I’m sure he will present his B sample and then, depending on the outcome of that, if it matches the A sample then he's going to have to give an explanation."

Former cruiserweight world champion Okolie (23-1, 17 KOs), who is the WBC's No. 1-rated heavyweight, immediately took to social media to protest his innocence.

He said: "Before anyone starts imagining the worst, following my bicep injury last year, I sustained an elbow injury on the same arm during this camp. I had a treatment on it and now we are here. I truly hope sense prevails.

"I will of course be fully cooperating with all relevant authorities and I'm confident any investigation will clear my name. I won't be making any further comment at this time. Thank you for all your support and see you soon."

Yoka (15-3, 12 KOs), the 34-year-old Queensberry fighter, has not boxed since he knocked out Patrick Korte inside two minutes of their December fight in Lagos, Nigeria.

But his promoter Warren is working hard to find him an outing as quickly as possible after a conflict of interest prevented him from slotting straight into the Queensberry show headlined by Fabio Wardley against Daniel Dubois in Manchester on May 9.

"Tony will be fighting soon," Warren said. "He will be out. We were actually thinking of putting him on this card but that would have meant that Don would have had to do both corners and he said he wanted to focus on Daniel, quite rightly so. Tony will be out fairly soon."

[Ruthless-RKO]

Lawrence Okolie: ‘I did not cheat, this is very clear cut’

Lawrence Okolie was on the eve of a heavyweight contest with Tony Yoka when he tested positive for, reportedly, the banned human growth hormone stimulator GHRP 2. The entire promotion was therefore cancelled. GHRP 2 is a synthetic growth hormone-releasing peptide known to help recovery, increase muscle mass, and also assist in fat loss.

What’s the latest, as you understand it, regarding your recently failed drugs test?

It’s a process. I’m just going through the process. It’s a case of allowing the lawyers to do their job; allowing time to show what it shows.

How disappointing was that news?

It’s the worst thing that’s happened in my life. It hit me; blindsided me. Obviously what’s happened’s happened; the reason for it is gonna eventually [come to light].

How important is it to you to clear your name?

At the end of the day I’ve been an Olympian; I’ve been a Commonwealth, European champion; world champion; I’m the one that asked for VADA testing for this fight. I’ve been on the “whereabouts” [monitoring scheme with drugs testers] since the Olympics – for 10 years. For 10 years I’ve never had anything.

It’s difficult, but it’s not in my heart to want to cheat. If I wanted to cheat I would never, in a million years, ask to be put under more of a microscope by agreeing VADA testing. But unfortunately we’re here.

When you say it’s the “worst thing that’s happened in your life”, what does that look like for you?

I haven’t cried. But, definitely, sleepless nights. I always thought to myself “If I committed a crime I’d be able to sleep”. With this, I didn’t commit the crime but it’s actually – it’s not about feeling sorry for myself. You’re expecting your life to go this way, and all of a sudden because of something that’s happened it’s going the other way. I know we’re going to sort it, but as an experience it’s difficult. It just feels weird. I’ve done everything I believe’s right, and now you’re here.

Do you understand why there’ll be scepticism when you say that you’re a clean athlete?

I do. ‘Cause even myself, other fighters I think that. But with me, I’ve been knocking people out since I was an amateur… Obviously anyone can cheat, but it’s not really in my makeup because it’s not a) how I operate as an athlete and secondly it’s not the advantage that I need. I need [help with] my belly fat, as opposed to getting bigger and whatever. Ultimately, I think the science will tell the full story.

What’s your explanation of what happened?

Honestly, I’m gonna give the full explanation as soon as I’m over the situation, but I’ve been told if I say anything now it’s going to cause a problem in my actual case. The best explanation I can say is that there’s human error – not mine, but I have to suffer the consequences.

It’s often said that the athlete should take responsibility for everything that enters their body…

I’d say the exact same thing. I’d say, obviously, there’s a limit – there’s mitigating circumstances. Reasons why maybe… But if I’m told one thing, and another thing happens… Obviously, you’re [responsible] for what’s in your system, but you have to look at the whole picture, not just the end result.

[It’s] disappointing, because I put in so much hard work – I did everything I could do. Everything was lined up in my head to go out there and put on a good performance, and all of a sudden… I would have actually preferred an injury. For something like that [instead of] something like this where you’re having to deal with the fallout.

How frustrating was it for your trainer Joe Gallagher and promoter allegedly?

They all know it’s not my nature to cheat. They know the full details of what’s happened, so they have a bit more of an understanding of it.

It’s more so, I’m disappointed, but in a very short time you’ll see “This is what happened”…

Did you feel bad for your opponent, Tony Yoka?

I was disappointed for him. But, ultimately, I know it’s just a case of I have to focus on myself and get back to boxing.

Will we definitely see you fight again?

Yeah, of course you will. I don’t see [an extended absence] happening because my thing is very clear cut. “This is what happened.” It’s not like I have to speculate and come up with [excuses]. I’m not in a situation where it’s “Maybe this; maybe that”. It’s “This is exactly what happened on this set day, and this is why we’re in this situation”. It’s very clear cut. There’s evidence, and I expect to be back boxing ASAP, to be fair.

For the record, did you cheat?

No [laughs]. Everything will be shown in very due course.