"It Shouldn't Take Someone Dying In The Ring" - Tony Bellew On Boxing's 'Major' Drug Problem

European cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew has claimed drugs are a massive problem in the sport of boxing, in a week where WBA heavyweight champion Lucas Browne tested positive for a banned substance after his title fight.

Browne's tests following his 10th round TKO over Ruslan Chagaev a fortnight ago contained traces of clenbuterol, which can be used as a fat-burning drug.

Bellew maintains that boxing should have a zero-tolerance policy for drugs cheats due to the obvious physical dangers of the sport:

I think professional boxing has a major problem with drugs,

he told BBC World Service.

There are not lives at risk in a 100m race. There are in a boxing ring and that is why it is so alarming. Steroids allow people to train much much harder and recover much much quicker. If someone is taking them in the couple of months in the lead-up to a fight they have such a huge advantage.

I suggest nothing less than a lifetime ban. It shouldn't take someone dying in the ring at the hands of a steroid-user for this to happen.

Bellew, a former world light-heavyweight challenger who played 'Pretty' Ricky Conlan in Ryan Coogler's Creed, is close friends with former Olympic bronze medallist boxer David Price, who also hails from Liverpool.

In July of last year, Price was knocked out in the second round of his fight with German heavyweight Erkan Teper. Six months later, news broke in Germany that Teper had allegedly tested positive for banned substances on two occasions but avoided punishment, and was also caught in possession of a number of said substances.

Bellew's assertions echo those of Ireland's Carl Frampton, who also called for the sport to knock out the issue in light of tennis' Maria Sharapova controversy. Frampton told the BBC:

H/T: BBC