Boxers in the top 15 of all WBC divisions have been asked to agree to the initiative, run in conjunction with the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA), in a bid to ensure all athletes are clean.

Those who fight under the WBC umbrella have to submit three Clean Boxing forms to the VADA in order to successfully agree to the scheme.

WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman has claimed it is “easy” for boxers to sign up and that the “out of competition random testing has absolutely no cost to any fighter, manager or promoter”.

“The WBC is responsible to follow the protocol whenever an adverse finding non-compliance happens and each case will be treated independently through due process,” Sulaiman said in a statement.

“If you are an eligible boxer and you have a problem we will help you; if you have concerns about anything, we will solve it, but if you do not want to enrol for whatever reason then you will not be eligible to compete for the WBC and will have to be removed from the WBC ratings.

“Any fighter not registered by the deadline will lose its WBC status and will be removed from the rankings.

“Let’s make boxing better and safer together.”

Fighters who are involved in WBC-sanctioned world title contests are subjected to random drug-testing by the VADA, which predominantly deals with athletes in boxing and martial arts.

The news comes after the VADA informed the WBC that both Kazakhstan’s Gennady Golovkin, considered one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world, and Britain’s Kell Brook had provided negative drugs tests ahead of their clash at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday (September 10).

Golovkin, who is undefeated from 35 professional fights, is bidding to defend his IBO, WBA ‘Super’, WBC, IBF and WBC middleweight championship belts against Brook.