As BoxingScene.com previously reported, Conor Benn has admitted that he tested positive for clomiphene in July, two months before the positive test that scuppered his fight with Chris Eubank Jr. But despite two failed tests he insists he is a clean athlete.
In an interview with The Times, Benn says he failed a test, carried out by VADA, for the banned substance - a female fertility drug that can boost testosterone levels - on July 25 as part of the WBC’s Clean Boxing Program. He then failed another test by VADA on September 1, for the same substance, after he had signed up for extra VADA testing ahead of his fight with Eubank.
It was this second failed test, which was revealed on September 23, that eventually led to the British Boxing Board of Control prohibiting the fight with Eubank going ahead, a decision made during fight week.
“Why would I take the biggest fight of my life and then use this substance?” Benn said.
“If you Google this substance it stays in your system for months. And yet I’m going to take it knowing I’m going to be tested in the build-up to this fight? Do I look like an idiot? It doesn’t make any sense. Why would I take something then? Do I look like a guy who would do that?”
In the article, Benn claims that the expert team he has employed to prove his innocence has found "a week of contamination" before the failed test in July. He also claims that “the tiniest traces were found... traces so low there was no performance benefit”.
“It’s crazy, man, because the public have already made up their mind. It does feel like a trial by media when I’ve not done anything wrong. I just want people to wait, take a step back and wait for the science, wait for the evidence, wait for the actual proof of what this is. The only thing I can think is contamination. The science will prove that. I’ve got the best scientists on this. I am spending a lot of money trying to prove my innocence here. A lot of money [he indicates more than £100,000]. You are talking about me really trying to prove my innocence and get to the bottom of what has happened here.”
He said his anger at the Board is such that he may never box in Britain again.
He said: “The Board can do one. I’ve actually not been charged or been found guilty of anything yet. Other fighters test positive for steroids and get cleared to fight — it feels like they’ve got it in for me.
“I won’t be boxing under the British board ever again. Now I know why my dad (Nigel, the former two-weight world champion) ripped up his license on TV. The way they have gone about this. The way they knew about this. They could have pulled the fight. I’ve given my license back. The fact that people have been so quick to jump to conclusions on this has hurt me. I’ve never been hurt like this.”
Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.
