LONDON — Lawrence Okolie failed a drugs test ahead of his scheduled heavyweight bout against Tony Yoka, prompting promoter Queensberry Promotions to cancel the event set for Saturday in Paris.
Queensberry announced the positive result on Tuesday but did not disclose details of the substance involved. The fight card at Porte de La Chapelle was later called off.
Okolie said in a social media post that he would cooperate with authorities and expressed confidence that an investigation would clear him.
The 33-year-old boxer faces a potential ban of up to four years unless he can show he was not responsible for the positive test. The test was conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association ahead of the fight.
Okolie is a former cruiserweight world champion who moved up to the heavyweight division. He is currently the top-ranked contender by the World Boxing Council, whose title is held by Oleksandr Usyk.
Yoka, who was set to face Okolie, won the super-heavyweight gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. He previously served a one-year suspension in 2018 after failing to provide required doping samples on multiple occasions.