International Boxing Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren has spoken out on canceling his event set to be headlined by Lawrence Okolie and Tony Yoka this Saturday in Paris, France.
Okolie (23-1, 17 KOs) returned an “adverse finding” from a VADA controlled performance enhancing drug test on Monday evening ahead of his 12 round heavyweight bout with Paris’ own Yoka (15-3, 12 KOs), which eventually forced the cancelation.
Warren and his firm Queensberry completely scrapped their entire event to be staged at the Adidas Arena, which also featured a WBC super welterweight eliminator between Bakary Samake and Ermal Hadribeaj.
Warren posted on X with a picture of an out of focus Yoke with the Eiffel Tower in the background:
“Completely gutted to have to cancel the show in Paris this weekend. Ourselves and the DAZN team in France worked incredibly hard to try to keep the show alive but ultimately it wasn’t possible.
“It’s a real shame for the fighters who worked hard in camp, the fans that bought tickets and our broadcast partner DAZN, but sadly it’s a situation none of us could have predicted.
“The French supporters have been marvellous and there’s clearly a real passion for boxing so we hope to have news for them soon.”
Okolie posted to his Instagram hours after the news broke of his adverse finding: “Before anyone starts imagining the worst, following my bicep injury last year,” accompanied with a picture of him receiving treatment on his arm. “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.”
Okolie is currently the number one ranked contender for Oleksandr Uysk’s WBC world title and is also the organization’s silver champion.
