Hadi Srour
Hadi Hassan Srour (born 16 November 1995) is a Norwegian professional boxer. As an amateur, he competed at the 2017 World Championships as well as three editions of the European Championships in 2015, 2017 and 2019. He won over 100 amateur bouts, becoming a three-time Nordic champion (two senior, one youth) and a seven-time national champion (four senior, three youth). Amateur career. Srour initially had a love for football, but joined the TK boxing club in his hometown of Tønsberg at the age of nine with his brother Amin and cousin Ali. He competed as a  youth until 2014, winning a gold medal at the 2013 Nordic Championships and three consecutive national championships at that level. In 2014, he was the lightweight national champion in both the youth and senior divisions. In 2015, Srour lost to Salavat Khatujev in the national championship finals. He defeated Jacob Gabriel by split decision in the finals of the Haringey Box Cup in England, but then suffered a quick exit at the European Championships in Bulgaria with a first-round loss to the more experienced Florentin Niculescu. Srour repeated as a silver medallist at the national championships in 2016. He  also won a bronze medal at the Nordic Championships and suffered a first-round exit in the European Olympic Qualification Tournament at the hands of Batuhan Gözgeç. In 2017 he won his second senior national title, moving up to welterweight and defeating Ruslan Sjidokaev in the final for the gold. A few weeks later he won the light-welterweight gold medal at the Nordic Championships, where he was also won the award for best senior male athlete. However, he suffered a quarterfinal exit at the European Championships and a first-round loss to Freudis Rojas at the World Championships. He  finished the year by winning the King of the Ring Tournament in Sweden, once again moving up to welterweight and knocking out Nordic champion Adolpe Sylva in the semi-finals before beating the 2016 King of the Ring, Alex Bishop, in the title fight. He was named the best boxer of the tournament. For his multiple gold-medal performances, local publication "Tønsbergs Blad" awarded him the "Kristinastatuetten" given to the Vestfold region's athlete of the year. Srour repeated as national and Nordic champion in 2018. He won his last national title in 2019, defeating Yusof Mohammed Abid in the  finals. He also competed at the European Games that summer, which doubled as the 2019 European Championships, losing in his first fight against Eskerkhan Madiev. Professional career. Srour made his professional debut on 3 February 2018, defeating English journeyman Michael Mooney by third-round technical knockout (TKO) in Arendal. He finished Artur Zemlianyi in the same fashion a few months later in Oslo. In early 2019 he defeated Zoltan Szabo by unanimous decision (UD) to move to 3–0, joining Sauerland Promotions on a three-year deal soon thereafter. In his first fight under the Sauerland banner on 17 August 2019 , he won a unanimous decision over Russian fighter Evgenii Vazem in Germany. Doping allegations. In September 2019 it was announced he had failed a drug test taken in July when traces of synthetic erythropoietin, also known as EPO, were found in his urine; he was subsequently dropped from the 2019 World Championships by the Norwegian Boxing Federation. He was accused of taking the "blood booster" following his loss in the European Games and before his professional fight in Germany. His only explanation was that he could have accidentally ingested something at Stavernfestivalen, the music festival he attended the day before  the test. Anti-Doping Norway recommended a four-year ban from the sport for Srour after he maintained his innocence and refused to confess. He appeared before the Norwegian Sports Confederation prosecution committee in September 2020, hiring a team of professors to present an expert report that disputed the positive test results. He was finally convicted in November and given the maximum sentence of a four-year ban. Personal life. Born in Borgheim, Srour lived in Tønsberg before moving to Oslo for his schooling. He is of Lebanese descent.