Robert Helenius handed two-year doping ban after positive test following Joshua fight

Robert Helenius has been given a two-year ban by UK Anti-Doping after he failed a drug test conducted by the organisation following his heavyweight fight with Briton Anthony Joshua in August 2023.

Finland’s Helenius, 40, tested positive for the female fertility drug clomifene in a sample provided to Ukad the day after his knockout defeat by Joshua.

He has denied intentional doping and blamed Ukad’s findings on the consumption of contaminated egg and chicken.

But Ukad said Helenius “was unable to provide any evidence that the eggs and chicken meat he had consumed in advance of the bout originated from hens that had been administered clomifene”.

Helenius was provisionally suspended on 18 September 2023, and with the date of his ban backdated to then, will be eligible to fight again on 18 September 2025.

‘The Nordic Nightmare’ – who was knocked out in the seventh round – stepped in to face Joshua after initial opponent Dillian Whyte returned an “adverse analytical finding” in a Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (Vada) test before the fight.

Helenius also returned an adverse finding in a test administered by Vada a day before the Joshua defeat, although the result was not known until two weeks after the fight.

Clomifene can be used to boost testosterone levels in men, and is banned inside and outside competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

British welterweight Conor Benn failed two Vada tests for clomifene in the build-up to his fight with Chris Eubank Jr in October 2022.

Benn denies intentionally taking the drug and said it was ingested through contaminated food.