Tyson Fury: World heavyweight champion could lose licence

World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury could lose his boxing licence after he revealed he was taking cocaine to help him deal with depression.

The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) is meeting on 12 October, when it will look at Fury's admission.

BBBofC general secretary Robert Smith said cocaine use is against the law and "will be dealt with accordingly".

IBF champion Anthony Joshua backed Fury to return, while another compatriot, Tony Bellew, said Fury "needs help".

The BBBofC meeting has not been called exclusively for Fury's case, but Smith said the organisation "can't ignore the law of the land".

Fury, 28, claimed he had retired on Monday before retracting the comment three hours later.

The WBO and WBA - the two organisations with which Fury holds heavyweight titles - can strip the unbeaten Briton of the title, declare the titles vacant, or he can vacate them.

The WBO told the Guardian it will discuss Fury's future at a meeting on 17 October.

The WBA said - before the boxer publicly admitted he had taken cocaine - it would "consider Fury's case" after he pulled out of a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko.

BBC Sport has contacted the WBA since Fury's admission - made during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine - but is yet to receive a response.

Smith said: "We deal with the licence, so in theory, if we were to suspend him they would have no choice but to strip him because he can't defend them, can he?

"You can't just take a man's licence away without taking the proper procedures, if we decide that's the right thing to do."

The BBBofC stripped Ricky Hatton of his licence after allegations of drug use in 2010.

Hatton, a former two-weight world champion, has reportedly sent a text to Fury "asking him to give me a ring if he needs me".

IBF would strip the licence

Fury has not fought since beating Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015

Fury - undefeated in 25 professional fights - has not fought since November 2015, when he inflicted a first defeat on Wladimir Klitschko in more than 11 years, winning the WBA, IBF and WBO belts.

He was stripped of the IBF belt within two weeks as he could not face mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov. A rematch with Klitschko for the WBA and WBO titles has twice been postponed.

British fighter Joshua now holds the IBF title, but the body's president Daryl Peoples said the BBBofC should strip Fury of his licence "so he could focus on getting himself better".

"I would try to convince Tyson and his camp that he needs to concern himself with bigger things than boxing," Peoples told BBC World Service Sport.

'I am sure we will see Fury back' - Joshua

Joshua, who has been targeted in some of Fury's social media outbursts in the past, says he is "sure" his fellow Briton will return to the ring.

"Tyson is a fighting man, a real talent and he is good for boxing in his own way," said Joshua. "It's too easy to point the finger because none of us really know what he is going through."

WBC cruiserweight champion Bellew, meanwhile, said Fury was "not well".

He added: "The last thing we need and his family needs is a fatality on their hands. I'm telling you now he's capable of that himself. I don't cast him anywhere near in the same net that I would cast a vile, disgusting steroid cheat, because they are going into the ring with an advantage."

Joe Gallagher, boxing coach to fighters such as Anthony Crolla, Scott Quigg and Liam Smith, said the BBBofC should not take away Fury's licence.

"I just feel instead of stripping away his licence he needs an arm around him," Gallagher told BBC Radio 5 live.

Manchester-born Fury also faces a UK Anti-Doping hearing in November after traces of a banned substance were allegedly found in a urine sample in June.