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Final drug test results in Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk released

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Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk have both passed their final drug tests following their heavyweight title clash last month.

Joshua was comfortably outboxed in front of over 63,000 fans at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium last month, losing his heavyweight titles to the unbeaten Usyk in his hometown.

And the Voluntary Anti-Doping Ageny (VADA) has confirmed both fighters’ final samples came back clean.

Joshua has insisted that his opponents enrol with VADA for a 10-12 week period before they meet in the ring, which all have obliged to date.

That process saw Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller miss out on a shot at the heavyweight world champion in the summer of 2019 when he failed multiple drugs tests.

Joshua would instead go on to fight Andy Ruiz jr, who took his belts in a thrilling encounter at Madison Square Garden before losing them in an immediate rematch.

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The drug testing process has assured that Joshua’s fights with the likes of Ruiz, Kubrat Pulev and Usyk were clean of any illegal substances.

He was a favourite heading into the clash with Usyk, having comfortably beaten Pulev and Ruiz in his two outings after the shock defeat in New York.

He handily outboxed Ruiz for 12 rounds in Saudi Arabia just months after being stopped in their first meeting, before brutally knocking out Pulev in December 2020.

And he was preparing to face Tyson Fury  for the undisputed title in the summer of this year, with an August 14 date back in Saudi planned before the fight was pulled.

Fury was ordered in arbitration to face Deontay Wilder  for a third time, which he did last weekend, and the WBO ordered Joshua to fight Usyk.

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The mandatory challenger was an undefeated, undisputed cruiserweight champion and pound-for-pound great prior to facing Joshua.

But in his two outings at heavyweight, he had looked decidedly unremarkable against Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora in winning efforts.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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