Conor Benn insists both he and Chris Eubank Jr want their fight to go ahead this weekend.
The welterweight contender has moved up almost two weight classes to fight Eubank Jr in a revival of their fathers' rivalry, but put the fight in jeopardy when he returned a positive drug test to the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA). He showed trace amounts of clomifene; a female fertility drug that is known to increase testosterone in men.
The British Boxing Board of Control insist they will not allow the fight to go ahead, but promoter Eddie Hearn remains hopeful a solution can be found. And Benn said: "I have not committed any violations and I've not been suspended. As far as I'm concerned the fight is going to go ahead.
"I've spoken to Chris personally and we both want the fight to go ahead. We've both taken legal and medical advice and we want the fight to happen for the fans. 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.
"My team will find out why there was an adverse finding in my test but as far as I'm concerned the fight is going ahead. I'm a clean athlete and we'll get to the bottom of this. [Chris] believes in me and it's not who I am or what I'm about; he was understanding and we both want the fight to go ahead."
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed Benn had returned an “adverse analytical finding for trace amounts of a fertility drug”, before ultimately insisting Saturday’s pay-per-view fight night with Eubank Jr in London will continue. But the British Boxing Board of Control later insisted they will not allow the bout to be held, plunging it back into doubt.
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Its statement read: “On the evening of October 4, 2022, the Board of the British Boxing Board of Control Limited resolved that the contest between Chris Eubank Jnr. and Conor Benn scheduled to take place on October 8, 2022 is prohibited as it is not in the interests of Boxing. That was communicated to the Boxers and Promoters involved on the morning of October 5, 2022.”
Hearn later insisted he was still hopeful of staging the bout, and that it was in the hands of the lawyers. "It's with the lawyers going backwards and forwards right now," he told Matchroom Boxing's official channels ahead of The O2 arena showdown. "The guys signed up to a multitude of testing for this fight, the UKAD testing, which is the testing agency that the BBBoC use and are governed by have all been clear and negative.
"There was an adverse finding on a VADA test but there has not been an official doping violation. There is a process to go through; Conor Benn has not been suspended by the BBBoC because he has passed all the tests from UKAD but clearly they will take a position on it. Both camps were aware of the situation and are prepared to go ahead but conversations have to be had with the lawyers and the team and the BBBoC."
