A farmer’s claim he lied to aid Tyson Fury in an anti-doping case will have “little effect” on the heavyweight’s career, says the 5 Live Boxing team.
Fury and his cousin Hughie received backdated two-year bans from UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) in 2017 after nandrolone was found in tests conducted in 2015.
The pair blamed the result on consuming uncastrated wild boar and farmer Martin Carefoot told Ukad he had sold the meat to the fighters.
He now says he was offered £25,000 by a friend familiar with ‘Team Fury’ to state he had supplied the meat, but had not actually done so.
Ukad will investigate Carefoot’s claims, made in an article in the Mail on Sunday.
Asked what impact it might have on Fury’s career, BBC Radio 5 Live analyst Steve Bunce said: “I don’t think it affects it at all.
“I think Ukad will go over what they have already looked at. The farmer and his allegations will be seriously looked into and investigated as he has made some fairly outlandish claims.
“You can’t just ignore it and we are not going to sweep it under the carpet. Often in boxing we get accused of sweeping all sorts of drug allegations and investigations under the carpet. The more transparency here the better.
“It is not going away easily but my gut feeling is it is not going to have a lasting effect on Tyson Fury’s boxing career.”
Before the case was settled, Ukad feared becoming insolvent or requiring a government bailout as a result of the legal dispute with the two fighters.
Both men insisted they “never knowingly or deliberately committed a violation”.
Since returning to boxing after well-documented personal problems, Tyson Fury has become world heavyweight champion for the second time courtesy of victory over Deontay Wilder in a rematch in February.
The bout formed part of a lucrative deal he has with US promoters Top Rank.
Fury’s last four bouts have taken place in the US and he no longer holds a licence to box under the British Boxing Board of Control, which sanctions Ukad to run its anti-doping procedures.
Any change in Fury’s rights to box in the US would need to be enforced by the individual state commissions in the country.
Fury’s UK promoter Frank Warren said Carefoot’s comments were “a load of rubbish”, while his management team MTK Global have not commented on the matter.
Fury’s status as WBC world heavyweight champion has also been supported by the sanctioning body’s president Mauricio Sulaiman, who said the farmer’s claims would “not impact” Fury’s position.
BBC Sport boxing commentator Mike Costello said: “I was looking at some photos last week where Top Rank, who now promote Fury in the US, are gushing over their signing of Jarrell Miller after all the anti-doping violations that he was found guilty of in the run-up to the fight that never happened with Anthony Joshua.
“You see him being welcomed back by the sport with open arms in the United States.
“If you listen to what Sulaiman at the WBC is saying and you look at the attitude of Top Rank in signing Miller, you have to suggest there will be little effect on the career of Fury.
“Wherever this goes it should not change one central important fact about the case and that is that Ukad didn’t announce the Furys’ positive tests for 16 months and the delay in results management was a factor in reaching the conclusion of the case.
“The official judgement of the National Anti-Doping Panel said that the Furys could argue that the delay in bringing the nandrolone proceedings had caused the boxers prejudice in their defence.
“There is also mention in the newspaper piece of Fury refusing to take a test in September 2016, listed as a second offence. That charge was withdrawn by Ukad as part of the compromise agreement between the parties and that is documented in the case judgment. All of that is fact not opinion.”
