Chris Eubank Jr. has no intention of sitting on his hands, regardless of what the investigation into Conor Benn’s positive drug test ends up revealing.

Kalle Sauerland, the head of Wasserman boxing, which promotes Eubank, said in a recent interview that he plans on pursuing alternative options for his charge, possibly as early as the first quarter of next year. Eubank was originally scheduled to face off against Benn last weekend in a 157-pound catchweight bout that was billed as a generational grudge match; their fathers — Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr. — were responsible for British boxing’s most fierce rivalry in the 1990s. But three days out from the fight, the Daily Mail published a bombshell report that Benn had failed a VADA-administered drug test, something that all relevant parties were aware of for at least two weeks. The PED in question was clomifene, a fertility drug that can boost testosterone levels and be used as a masking agent.

After the article was published, the British Boxing Board of Control, the regulatory body for prizefighting in the United Kingdom, came out with a statement refusing to put their imprimatur behind the fight. It appeared, however, that Eddie Hearn, Benn’s promoter, and Sauerland were intending to move forward with the fight via court injunction. In the end, the promoters decided to axe the fight.

A few days ago, the BBBofC — along with UK-Anti Doping — issued a statement confirming media reports that they are indeed investigating Benn for his positive test.

Sauerland, who was disappointed by the Board’s message, pointed out that he has already met with Eubank to discuss his next steps, regardless of what happens with the investigation.

“We’re not waiting around at all,” Sauerland told iFL TV. “Putting plans in place for scenarios. At the same time, of course, we’re looking at this investigation that I believe was already underway.”

Sauerland said Eubank’s top priority is to have a fight with middleweight titlist Gennadiy Golovkin next year. Golovkin, who holds the IBF and WBA middleweight belts, is coming off a clear points loss to Canelo Alvarez in their trilogy in September. Eubank (32-2, 23 KOs) and Golovkin (42-2-1, 37 KOs) were in deep talks to face each other in 2016 but negotiations fell apart.

Sauerland also named recently "retired" fighters Billy Joe Saunders and Kell Brook as potential opponents for his charge. Eubank dropped a split decision to Saunders in 2014. A Eubank-Brook fight was floated as a possibility after Brook scored a stoppage of rival Amir Khan in February. Both Brook and Saunders have hinted at ring returns in recent months. 
 
“Billy Joe, of course, next year, is a name,” Sauerland said. “Our number one target, as everyone knows, is Golovkin for 2023. All those fights are very make-able. Saw Kell Brook up here at the gym the other day … I never know if that’s real or not. We’ve been down that road before. He looked like he needs to shift a bit of weight. Saw somewhere he might be ready in February or March. Junior will be out sooner than that.”

“We want the big fights,” Sauerland reiterated. “And the big fights, like I said, the top of the pecking order is Golovkin. It always has been, always will. But there are other big fights that don’t involve a belt. We’ve got lots of options. The good thing is it’s not a situation where there’s no options — there’s loads of options. We’ll just work out what the best ones are for Junior."