CONOR BENN has broken silence on his failed drug test, declaring “I’m a clean athlete” after his fight with Chris Eubank Jr was cancelled.
Saturday’s fight for the ages has been scrapped by the board after Benn was found to have traces of a female fertility drug in his system.
He returned an adverse finding for clomifene, which is commonly used as medication to treat infertility in women who do not ovulate.
But it can also increase testosterone levels in men, which is why it is on the World Anti-Doping Agency banned list.
The BBBoC stepped in and declared the scrap is prohibited under their sanctioning, despite BOTH fighters wanting to continue with the bout.
Benn, who was taking part in an open workout on Wednesday, addressed the findings and declared “I’m a clean athlete”.
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He told DAZN: “I’ve not committed any violations. I’ve not been suspended. So as far as I’m concerned the fight’s still going ahead.
“I’ve spoken to Chris [Eubank Jr] personally, and we both want the fight to go ahead.
“We’ve both taken medical and legal advice, and as I said, we want the fight to happen for the fans.
“I’ve signed up to every voluntary anti-doping testing there is under the sun.
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“Throughout my whole career I’ve been tested. All my UK tests have come back negative throughout my whole career, I’ve never had any issues before.
“Even in the lead-up to this fight, my tests have come up negative, you know, so my team will find out as to why there’s been an initial adverse finding in my test.
“But as I said, as far as I’m concerned the fight is still going ahead, I’m a clean athlete and we’ll get to the bottom of this.
“I just want to thank everyone for their continued support and I’ll see you on Saturday.”
Eubank Jr ‘believes’ Benn
Benn says his rival Eubank Jr “fully believes” in him, as it’s “not who I am, [and] not what I’m about”.
The 26-year-old continued: “He fully believes, you know, he believes in me.
“And, you know, It’s not who I am, [and] It’s not what I’m about.
“I’m a professional athlete and, you know, he was understanding.”
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Both Benn’s promoter Hearn and Eubank Jr’s in Kalle Sauerland said the fight will still go ahead.
Hearn said Benn passed tests undertaken by UK Anti-Doping, meaning he will not face a suspension by the BBBoC.
He said: “Conor Benn is not suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control, ultimately he can’t be, because he passed all the tests from UKAD.
“But clearly the British Boxing Board of Control will take a position on it, we’ll deal with the lawyers.”
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According to ESPN, Hearn is attempting to obtain a court injunction to allow the fight to go ahead.
The catchweight clash of 157lb was set to take place almost 30 years after their dads’ famous rematch, which ended a draw.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
