Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn 's grudge fight which was due to take place this Saturday will be rescheduled after Benn failed a drug test.
The fight was put in jeopardy on Wednesday after news broke that Benn had been flagged for the women's fertility drug clomifene stemming from a VADA test in September. The British Boxing Board of Control refused to sanction the bout after Benn's test failure and the rivals will now have to wait to settle their differences as their grudge fight will be rescheduled for a later date.
Co-promoter Kalle Sauerland said: "The matter was taken out of our hands, and the handling of it we feel was totally inappropriate. We now look at a case of rescheduling it."
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Eubank Jr and Benn were planning to renew the rivalry started by their fathers 32 years ago, when Chris Eubank Sr stopped Nigel Benn to defend his world title before the pair fought to a draw in 1992. Fans were billing the fight between the sons of the two legends as the trilogy meeting of the series as Benn was eager to defy the odds by moving up two weight classes to stop Eubank Jr.
Benn declared his innocence when addressing the adverse finding in his drug test and claimed he spoke with Eubank Jr about the matter, stating: "I have not committed any violations and I've not been suspended. I've spoken to Chris personally and we both want the fight to go ahead. I have signed up to every test under the sun, all my UKAD tests have come back negative throughout my career and even in the lead-up to this fight my tests have come up negative."
Eubank Jr went on to contradict Benn's claim by stating the pair hadn't spoken since news broke of his failed drug test, but he still maintained he wanted to go ahead with the fight. "We haven't spoken since this was announced. I'm ready, I'm clean, I'm 60 per cent. I've been tested all my career and I've been tested more for this fight than ever before," he said. "I have an app to designate where I'm going to be every single day and they can come and test me unannounced whenever I see fit. I've never failed a test."
Matchroom Boxing boss Eddie Hearn pushed on till the very end to keep the fight alive, but failed to do so and has since been mocked by fans for his hypocritical stance on VADA testing. Hearn, who defended Benn's test failure by citing his clean UKAD tests, previously stated it would be a "mockery" to ignore the result of a drug test when Billy Joe Saunders pulled out of his 2018 fight with Demetrius Andrade.
