Latest news with #GamalYafai
The Independent
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Independent
Record-breaking fighter cleared of intentional drug use after Yafai victory overturned
The WBC has changed the result of Francisco Rodriguez vs Galal Yafai to a no-contest and ordered a rematch. Rodriguez failed a post-fight drugs test after a record-breaking win over the Olympic gold medallist, where he landed 575 punches across 12 rounds – over 100 more than the previous flyweight record. The Mexican was subsequently found to have the cardiac stimulant, heptaminol, in his system. The WBC has placed Rodriguez on a 12-month probation rather than a full ban and has ordered the rematch because they found that the presence of the banned substance was 'accidental, unintentional, unknowing and not directed to enhance performance.' The WBC stated: 'After a thorough factual and scientific review of the adverse finding, and considering champion Rodriguez's admission of the circumstances of his non-intentional ingestion of a banned substance, and the fact that Mr Rodriguez had reported in his WBC CBP registration document the use of an over-the-counter energy booster which label included two banned substanced [sic], the WBC and champion Rodriguez agreed to enter into an adjudication agreement.' Yafai had his loss expunged and his WBC interim flyweight title returned, but this is not enough for his family, who have reacted emotionally on social media to the result of the investigation. His older brother Gamal said: 'WBC are a joke. 'A 12-month ban and a rematch… couldn't write it and what a load of conmen.' The WBC fully explained Rodriguez's punishment following the investigation and said he will be enrolled in a program with the WBC Nutrition committee. They stated: 'During his Probation Status, Mr. Rodriguez shall participate in a program to be designed and conducted by the WBC Nutrition Committee. 'The program shall aim to address the WBC's concerns about Mr. Rodriguez's health and safety in light of the circumstances of the Adverse Finding. 'At a minimum, that program shall comprise no less than once per week counselling sessions in a 30-day period (4 sessions) focusing on prevention of consumption of banned substances and at Champion Rodriguez's sole cost.' Team Rodriguez must also await a final verdict from the British Boxing Board of Control, as the fight was contested under their jurisdiction. A DAZN subscription provides access to over 185 fights a year across a range of combat sports from the world's best promoters.
The Sun
21-06-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Galal Yafai reveals beatdowns he took from his older champion brothers knocked him into the fighter he is today
GALAL YAFAI reveals the beatdowns he took from his champion older brothers knocked him into the fighter he is today. Yafai grew up as the youngest boxer in the household and admits it was constant civil war at home older siblings Gamal and Kal. 4 4 4 He told SunSport: "My mum would come in screaming and shouting, we'd always end up fighting but I knew my place when you're like ten years old or nine years old. "Two-three years is a big difference. When they were 13-14 years old and I'm only just 10, it's a big jump. So yeah, I knew my position. I used to get beaten up on a little bit!" Despite taking his fair share of brotherly blows, Yafai admits the real wars came between Kal and Gamal. He said: "They were closer in age and I think they felt sorry for me a little bit because I was a little bit smaller than them. "They had the real big fights and my mum used to come out shouting and it was kind of like hillbilly style. It kind of helped us to get where we got to. "Kal was always better than me, Gamal was always bigger and better so I don't think I ever got the better of everyone really. "I could hold my own, well I could hold my own when I got a bit older, but I think they took it easy on me. "But they always helped me anyway, it helped in my career." Yafai trained as a teenager and watched his older brothers become amateur champions - later replicating that success in the professional ranks. The youngest of the pack only began boxing again at 18 but by 2021 he was on the Olympic champion after packing in his job working in a Land Rover factory. Boxing icon Tyson Fury spotted posing topless in Scots town as he chats with locals Now he is undefeated and 9-0 as a pro - meanwhile ex-world champ Kal, 36, is retired and Gamal, 33, now coaches the younger generation. But Yafai - who returns on Saturday against Francisco Rodriguez Jr in a bid to earn a shot at WBC and WBO champ Kenshiro Teraji - doubts brother Gamal will be part of his corner team - preferring he remains just a fan for now. He said: "My coach Rob McCracken sorts all that out and I just like my brothers being there. They help me just being there and showing me support and having my back. "My brother Kal's been in my corner before as like a second in America. But as long as Rob's in my corner and my brothers are there supporting me, yeah, I'm happy." 4
The Independent
17-06-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
The memories and scars that brought Galal Yafai to the edge of glory
It has been a hard road for Galal Yafai, from being the baby boxer in the family to winning a gold medal at the Olympics, and now being the main attraction in his hometown. On Saturday, at Resorts World on the outskirts of Birmingham, Yafai defends his WBC interim flyweight title against the Mexican Francisco Rodriguez Jr. It is not an easy fight, it's a difficult fight. A real fight. • Yafai is now 32, this will still only be his 10th professional fight, but his amateur career was long and established; he fought and lost at the Rio Olympics, and then in 13 days of glory, he won five times in Tokyo in 2021 to win a gold medal. It is arguably the best gold-medal streak in British history. Every single one of the bouts was hard; Galal fights that way. Yafai was the youngest and smallest of three fighting brothers; that can be a constant battle. His two brothers could both really fight: Khalid went to the 2008 Olympics, won a British title and was world champion at super-flyweight; Gamal won the European and Commonwealth titles as a professional. All three brothers won international medals. Khalid was, in 2005, just the second British boxer to claim any version of a world amateur title when he won the under-17 world championship in Liverpool. They are one of the world's great fighting families. 'It's been a long journey to just get here,' Galal said. 'It's not finished yet, not even close.' Last November, Yafai stopped former world champion Sunny Edwards in the best pairing of two British flyweights for close to 40 years. That night, he sent a fine boxer into retirement. The WBC's interim belt was the official bounty on the night, but the real prize was pride and respect. Edwards had beaten Yafai in 2015 over three rounds and had always been critical of Yafai's selection for the Rio Olympics in 2016. When Yafai was selected, he was working at Land Rover – he was always a long, long shot for a medal in Rio. That was not the plan the men making the selection had; they had an agenda for gold in Tokyo. Yafai hated leaving Rio without a medal in the summer of 2016, but decided to stay for one more Olympic cycle. In early March 2020, he qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, but just 14 days later, as Covid slowed the world, the Olympics were postponed, pushed back indefinitely at a cruel time of endless unknowns and sudden deaths. It looked like Yafai had lost his window, lost his chance. The delay broke a lot of fighters. The boxing business stopped, the Olympic dream was gone in a tumble of real concerns. But Yafai decided to wait, to be patient, to keep dreaming that Olympic dream. It was not easy, and not everybody did the same. 'I had to stay and hope it happened,' said Yafai. 'I had worked so hard, I had qualified, I was ready, and then there were lonely months of waiting for news.' The British boxers prepared in isolation, but under the relentless and watchful eye of the GB coaches. It was remote, but it worked. The squad won six medals, reaching four finals in a record haul. They had a hunger from the very start, a desire as a team to succeed. In Tokyo, at the games of isolation and paranoia, Lauren Price and Yafai won gold. It was the old-fashioned dream ending – one that had looked in doubt. The risk of waiting and the Olympics being scrapped was very real, but Yafai and Price gambled and won. Yafai was a giant in Tokyo, unstoppable – and had the Val Barker Trophy for the best boxer been available, he would have been a real contender. As a professional, Yafai has been moved fast, matched hard, and has gained some crucial rounds of experience. Rodriguez Jr will give him more rounds and a test. The Mexican has lost six times, mostly on the road in fights where the odds were massively stacked against him. He has lost world title fights on points in the Philippines and Japan. And three years ago, he went the full 10-round distance with Junto Nakatani, the double world champion, also in Japan. He is unbeaten in four since then and is the same age as Yafai. 'It's another fight, another test,' said Yafai. 'I'm getting closer, and this is the attitude I had in Tokyo. This is no different, it's just a fight, and then I move on.' The top boxers all learn from the years in obscurity on the international circuit, fighting over five rounds in Kazakhstan against Cubans, winning a gold at the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, getting a bad decision in Ukraine and having to box four and five times at tournaments just to get a medal. Yafai and his brothers have those memories and those scars – now the baby in the family can go on and become a very big star in modern boxing. His two brothers will be by his side, obviously.
