Does a UKAD Investigation Have Any Weight?
Throughout numerous boxing outlets and publications, news of WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury’s (30-0-1, 21 KO’s) current scandals are swirling about with forceful ferocity. Following his highly anticipated rematch with Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KO’s), Fury found himself engulfed in controversy.
His trouble began with his floppy left glove, which has since been unofficially renamed GloveGate. Before the dust could settle on the matter with the glove, a UK farmer, Martin Carefoot, came forward accusing Team Fury of promising to pay him to lie to UKAD in 2015. This inflammatory accusation, now dubbed WildBoarGate, was enough for UKAD to reopen an investigation on Fury. 3kingsboxing has reported on each issue at length.
THE UK IS JUST A PLACE OVER THE POND
With the new investigation, Fury faces up to an eight year ban if found guilty. While it certainly sounds rather dire to be facing such a lengthy sentence, perhaps everything is not all that foreboding. The main reason that Fury is probably not sweating over the accusations of Mr. Carefoot is because he hasn’t even fought in the UK since his bout with Francesco Pianeta on August 8, 2018.
Not only has the Gypsy King not fought in the UK in nearly two years, ahead of his rematch with Wilder, Fury stated that he had no intention on fighting in the UK ever again. Fury felt that the UK fans did not treat him as well as the US spectators. Therefore, he harbored no desire to return.
This sentiment was reinforced by the recent revelation that the newly crowned WBC champion had allowed his UK license to lapse. Along with letting his license lapse, Tyson Fury sent a formal letter to BBB of C stipulating that he knowingly relinquished his license.
UKAD’S TOOTHLESS INVESTIGATION
Since Fury wasn’t planning on performing as a professional boxer in the UK again, along with foregoing his legal ability to fight in the region, the current UKAD investigation loses a great deal of meaning.
Even if UKAD finds him guilty of doping and charges him the full eight-year ban, that would only apply to the jurisdiction controlled by UKAD. However, this organization has no power here in the states. Therefore the current scandal, regardless of UKAD’s findings, appears to already be a non-issue for Team Fury since they have no tangible way of enforcing their ruling.
If UKAD did find Tyson Fury to be guilty of the charge of doping, then there is a slim chance that the WBC could look into the matter themselves. The WBC prides themselves on leading the charge amongst the US sanctioning bodies when it comes to fighting the use of PED’s. The WBC runs the Clean Boxing Program (CBP) and is heavily partnered with the frightfully efficient anti-doping agency VADA. For its fighters to even be ranked in the WBC’s top 10, they must be enrolled it the CBP.
So there is the chance that the WBC could take some form of action. However, since Martin Carefoot brought forth his allegations, nothing about the statements from WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman suggests that he would levy any adverse action against Fury.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
While it looks like even if the worst happens, Tyson Fury will skate by scot free, this cannot be said of his cousin Hughie Fury. UKAD would flag both cousins in the 2015 scandal. Also, both fighters would use Martin Carefoot’s wild boars as their excuse for the illegal drug findings. Unlike Tyson, who is a bonafide star here in the states, now earning million dollar purse, Hughie is still based in the UK and doesn’t make a fraction of that money.
Due to Tyson Fury being the bigger star, all the headlines sensationalizing the potential suspension time that he could receive have revolved around him. However, it’s extremely likely that those same repercussions could apply to Hughie Fury as well. If that is true, then an eight-year ban levied upon Hughie would be disastrous.
It is hard to believe that Hughie can stand to go unemployed for the better part of the next decade. And if forced into that predicament, he has not established any sort of star power here in the states to retreat to America as a fallback. So an eight-year ban for Hughie Fury could very well essentially end his boxing career.
It will be interesting to see what comes of his next!
By: Bakari Simpson
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