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Sport

12th Nov 2018

We need to talk about Anthony Crolla’s urine sample

Boxing is not for everyone

Darragh Murphy

Yeah, urine isn’t supposed to be that colour

Anthony Crolla earned a crucial victory on Saturday night as he secured a unanimous decision in his native Manchester to set up a shot at a world title.

Crolla got the better of game opponent Daud Yordan but both men took significant damage in the evening’s co-feature.

‘Million Dolla’ Crolla has now won each of his last three outings and steadied the ship after dropping consecutive decisions to Jorge Linares.

But while Crolla came out on top, the victory came at a cost as his urine sample showed the effects of the body shots that he’d taken in the 36-minute war.

The 31-year-old’s urine was a dark shade of purple after the fight, showing just what fighters put their bodies through in order to make it to the top.

And Crolla’s life isn’t going to get much easier because his win over Yordan earned him mandatory challenger status for Vasyl Lomachenko’s WBA lightweight title.

Lomachenko is one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters on the planet and Crolla will likely have to endure some tough shots if that fight comes to fruition next year.

Promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed that Crolla is set to make a fortune for the Lomachenko bout but admitted that it’s no easy task for the Manchester lightweight.

Hearn said: “The WBA will call the mandatory after Pedraza. We’ll be bidding, Lomachenko’s promoter Top Rank will be bidding and Anthony Crolla is going to make a fortune and he deserves it.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s a complete disaster of a fight for any man in boxing and Crolla is right up against it.

“But he’s done everything else so why not go to New York or Vegas and fight for seven figures?”We want it there. So we go to purse bids and let the boy make all the money in the world. Then maybe he can float off.”Loma is going to fight on December 8, so it’s not going to be until April or May. Crolla can sit tight until then.”