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It’s probably not a set up.
Tyrone Spong’s big opportunity to face one of the pound-for-pound best boxers in the world has been squandered after he failed a VADA drug test, but of course he denies any wrongdoing.
The former kickboxing star tested positive for clomiphene, the same banned substance that Jon Jones and Brock Lesnar failed for at UFC 200 back in 2016. As a result, the Illinois athletic commission opted not to license Spong and he was pulled from this Saturday’s DAZN main event against former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. Unsurprisingly, Spong is not happy about this at all.
“This is a set up,” Spong told BoxingScene.com. “I vehemently deny that I have ever taken the substance named in VADA’s report. I have asked for testing of the B sample at a laboratory of my choosing. Testing performed last week at the request of the Illinois Boxing Commission showed, what I’ve always known, that I’m a clean fighter.”
Spong’s manager Marcos Gonzales also told BoxingScene that it’s “very strange because Tyrone was just informed that he tested negative from the other tests we did.”
“I ask [Usyk’s promoter] Matchroom to publicly acknowledge that I tested negative for all performance enhancing substances just a few days ago,” Spong said. “Any adverse finding is impossible and in my opinion a manipulative attempt to remove me from this fight.”
Spong had never failed a drug test up until this week (as to how often he’s been tested in kickboxing, MMA, and boxing, that is a different story altogether). Going the conspiracy theory route as to suggest the results were falsified or someone put clomiphene in his system to get the fight cancelled last minute? Well good luck with that, Tyrone.
Usyk will instead face Chazz Witherspoon (38-3, 29 KOs), and… well that’s just not interesting whatsoever. But at least Chazz can presumably pass a drug test.