Galal Yafai will receive a world title opportunity after it emerged that Francisco Rodriguez failed a drug test following their June fight.
The result has made Yafai the mandatory challenger for the WBC flyweight world championship, and he expects to face Ricardo Sandoval — the unified WBC and WBA champion — early in 2026, most likely in the United States. “I’m hearing it’s the first quarter of next year, it’s next. I’ve just got to make sure I’m 100 per cent ready. Most likely it will be in America,” Yafai told Sky Sports.
Yafai had lost a 12-round decision to Rodriguez in Birmingham, where the Mexican repeatedly hurt him and scored a knockdown in the final round. At the time the defeat was a significant setback for Yafai, who had been unbeaten as a professional and held the WBC interim title, placing him in line for a world shot.
Only after the fight did authorities reveal Rodriguez had failed a drug test. Yafai said the manner of the loss felt unusual given his experience at elite amateur and professional levels. “He beat me so easy. I’ve fought all over the world, the Olympic Games, I’ve fought as a pro now three years. I’ve beaten some good fighters,” he said. “Then I come up against Rodriguez, who’s 32 years old, probably has had his best years… He just beat me so easy and he came to my city to do it as well. I just thought something’s quite off.”
The defeat prompted questions Yafai had not faced before. Having recently beaten Sunny Edwards and held the interim world strap, he entered the Rodriguez fight as favourite and was one step from a world title shot. “When it first happened I was disappointed. Obviously we all want to win our fights… After the fight I think I was asking a lot of questions of myself: why has this happened? How has he beat me so easy?”
Yafai wants the Rodriguez result overturned to a no contest and says UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) and the British board are handling the matter. “Definitely. I think it will be. Due diligence has to be done and I think UKAD and the British board are doing what they can do to fix it and sort it. I just know these things take a while,” he added, hoping for a resolution “sooner rather than later.”
With the controversy unfolding, Yafai has refocused on claiming the world title. “It spurs me on,” he said. “I’m happy to move on and fight for the world title as I will do. At the moment I’m just looking at fighting for the world title. I know that Ricardo Sandoval is the champion, he’s got two of the belts. Hopefully I can get that form that I had before and this is just a blip in my journey. It’ll be a great fight and hopefully I can claim what I should have claimed before.”
Yafai insists he can only control his preparation and performance moving forward: train hard and beat everyone in front of him — with the Rodriguez episode behind him as he eyes the next step in his career.