TYSON Fury has set his sights on reclaiming the world heavyweight title after being cleared to fight again immediately.
Fury is free to resume boxing after a compromise on his positive test for the banned steroid nandrolone was found with UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), resulting in a two-year ban which has been backdated to December 2015.
It means Fury, who has returned to training and faced the UKAD hearing alongside cousin Hughie, can challenge for Anthony Joshua’s unified WBA, IBF and IBO titles.
“I’m a fighting man through and through and I’ve never backed down from anyone in my life. I was certainly not going to back down from fighting this dispute,” Fury said.
“Hughie and I have maintained our innocence from day one and we’re now happy that it has finally been settled with UKAD.
“I can now put the nightmare of the last two years behind me and next year I will be back doing what I do best, better than ever and ready to reclaim the world titles which are rightfully mine. It’s time to get the party started.”
Fury and his cousin Hughie tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone in February 2015 but were not charged by UKAD until June 2016, by which time Tyson Fury had beaten Wladimir Klitschko to become undisputed champion.
Both Hughie and Tyson Fury have strongly denied the nandrolone charge, claiming the positive was a result of eating wild boar that had not been castrated.
As part of the compromise deal, UKAD withdrew a charge against Tyson Fury of failure to provide a sample in September 2016.
Chief executive Nicole Sapstead explained the delay over charging the Furys was a result of the complexities of proving nandrolone abuse, but denies UKAD had taken the easy option in reaching a compromise.
“It’s a really complicated case and our policy allows us to do what we’ve done. We haven’t broken any of our rules,” Sapstead said.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here