Frank Warren has spoken of his disappointment at the positive test result that scuppered Lawrence Okolie’s Paris fight with Tony Yoka.
Okolie had been due to face France’s Yoka last week, but the fight was canceled just days beforehand.
“It’s a very, very, very big disappointment,” Warren, head of Queensberry Promotions, told reporters. “I mean, very disappointed with that. But it is what it is and it’ll have to take its course when the Board of Control and UKAD call for the hearing and they have to go through the procedures. And I’m sure he’ll present his B sample and then, depending on the outcome of that, if it matches the A sample, then he’s going to give an explanation.”
Warren had tried to move Yoka on to the Manchester bill headlined by Fabio Wardley’s WBO heavyweight title fight against Daniel Dubois.
“He will be fighting soon,” Warren said of former Olympian Yoka.
“He’ll be out. We were actually thinking of putting him on this [May 9 Wardley-Dubois] card, but that would mean that [trainer] Don [Charles, who works with Dubois] would have had to work with him as well, and I think he said he wanted to focus on Daniel, quite rightly. So Tony will be out fairly soon.”
One heavyweight who has landed on the bill is Bakhodir Jalolov, the 16-0 (14 KOs) two-time Olympic champion.
“It’s a fabulous card,” Warren added. “He’s fighting a guy who's 21-3, from Croatia, Argon Smakici. He’s on there. He’s a good fighter. He’s got a good record. We’ve got actually two fighters from Uzbekistan on there. We signed our new one, [Javokhir] Ummataliev [a light heavyweight], but I tell you, wait till you see him. I’m telling you, he can fight.”
Asked how Jalolov fits into the picture at heavyweight, a division in which Queensberry holds a dominant position, Warren said: “He’s part of the jigsaw. He’s part of what we’re doing, which is making these fights happen. We want to deliver the best fights. No one’s getting any knockovers here. It’s not happening. This is the best fighting the best. That’s what we’re doing.”
Also on the May 9 Manchester bill, Jack Rafferty and Ekow Essuman are expected to deliver fireworks, Zak Chelli will accept the underdog role against Cuba’s David Morrell Jnr, light heavyweights Brad Rea and Liam Cameron will fight, and Khaleel Majid will meet Gavin Gwynne. There are also outings for Bobbi Flood, Cuban veteran Mike Perez and Ramtin Musah.
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
