Tyson Fury in Jeopardy of Losing Heavyweight Titles After Positive Cocaine Test

Tyson Fury, the colorful heavyweight champion of the world, tested positive for cocaine in a screening administered last week.

The towering boxer, who recently pulled out of a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko for the second time, could lose his titles despite never losing in the ring. The massive Mancunian’s handlers initially claimed that mental health issues, rather than any physical ailment, sidetracked Fury from defending his title. The excuse now appears somewhat suspect knowing that Fury’s camp received notification of the failed drug test prior to offering the mental-health issues excuse.

“This letter is to advise you that the ‘A’ sample urine specimen number 4006253 collected from Tyson Fury on September 22, 2016 in Lancaster, England through his participation in the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) program has been analyzed for anabolic agents, diuretics, beta-2 agonists, stimulants and drugs of abuse,” read a letter sent to Fury by VADA president Dr. Margaret Goodman that ESPN obtained. “The results of the analysis are as follows: Adverse. Urine specimen contains benzoylecgonine.”

Although benzoylecgonine remains in the system longer than cocaine, its presence generally does not stick around for more than a week or two. People who test positive for it, then, generally used the drug in close proximity to the test, which could indicate a habitual user or someone too undisciplined to refrain despite knowledge of a pending test.

After shocking Wladimir Klitschko with his upset win last November, Fury shocked the Fourth Estate by stating in a free-ranging interview that “a woman’s best place is in the kitchen and on her back,” calling mixed-martial arts “for white kids who can’t box,” and saying that the legalization of abortion, homosexuality, and pedophilia signals the apocalypse. He showed up to a press conference promoting his rematch with Klitschko fat and out of shape. The comments, the cocaine, and the corpulence lead critics to call on the WBA and WBO to strip him of his belts.