British heavyweight boxer Dillian Whyte has had a charge for a doping violation dropped by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD).
UKAD made the announcement in a joint statement released on Friday, ahead of Whyte’s fight against Polish boxer Mariusz Wach on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
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Whyte provided a sample on 20 June this year – before his victory against Colombia’s Oscar Rivas in July – that contained traces of a banned steroid.
But UKAD announced the charge has been withdrawn as the levels in his sample were “very low”.
The agency says the presence of a steroid was “not caused by any fault, negligence or wrongdoing” on Whyte’s part.
Whyte survived a ninth-round knockdown to beat Rivas on points at London’s O2 Arena in the summer.
He passed all tests with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (Vada) in the build-up and aftermath of that fight, but gave an adverse test to UKAD.
He was notified of the test result on 17 July but cleared to fight by an independent panel on the day of the bout.
The WBC provisionally suspended Whyte’s status as the ‘interim’ world heavyweight champion and mandatory challenger to Deontay Wilder following the charge.
Reacting to the decision to acquit him of any wrong doing, Whyte wrote on social media: “For those who believed in me I won’t forget you. To those who didn’t, I won’t forgive you and I know who you are.”
