Lawrence Okolie has blamed his failed drug test on the medication he used to treat a bicep injury he sustained last year.

The two-weight world champion, Okolie (23-1, 17 KOs), was all set to clash with Olympic gold medallist Tony Yoka (15-3, 12 KOs) in Paris, France, on Saturday, April 25, but has been withdrawn from the WBC Silver heavyweight championship contest following an adverse finding, reports globalboxingnews.co.uk.

The 33-year-old British boxer of Nigerian heritage returned an adverse analytical finding for a Human Growth Hormone in his VADA doping test. The former WBO world cruiserweight champion’s A-sample was flagged up for GHRP 2, and its M8 metabolite, which is used to increase muscle mass, improve recovery and encourage fat loss.

Both boxers were in the Rio 2016 Olympics, but Okolie was eliminated at the Round of 16, where he lost to eventual bronze medallist Erislandy Savón of Cuba, whereas Yoka defeated Filip Hrgović in the semifinal, then Joe Joyce in the final to become the first-ever Olympic super-heavyweight from France.

Each of the heavyweights was riding on a four-fight winning streak, making their match-up a potentially close and intriguing one.

Queensberry Promotions released a statement when the news broke, which read: “Last night the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association informed Queensberry that Lawrence Okolie had returned an adverse finding following an anti-doping test conducted ahead of the show in Paris on Saturday. A further update regarding the event will be made in due course.”

Okolie then posted the following statement on his socials earlier today: “Before anyone starts imagining the worst, following my bicep injury last year, I sustained an elbow injury on the same arm during this camp.

“I had a treatment on it, and now we are here. I truly hope sense prevails.

“I will, of course, be fully cooperating with all relevant authorities, and I’m confident that the investigation will clear my name.

“I won’t be making any further comment at this time. Thank you for all your support, and see you soon.”

Promoter Frank Warren is trying his utmost to replace Okolie with a British opponent. The 74-year-old head of Queensberry Promotions told TalkSport, “It is very unsatisfactory, but it is what it is, and we’ve got to get on with it and make sure we run a show, and that’s what we are trying to do at the moment and find an opponent for Tony Yoka. I’m trying to find a British fighter to get in there.”