Chris Eubank Jr believes lawyers, verdicts, promoters and statements do little for Conor Benn following the doping scandal that kicked off last October.
The pair were set to fight in what was a family grudge match that would reignite the rivalry of their fathers from the nineties. News broke on fight week that Benn had failed a drugs test, and the event was pulled.
Since then, the 26-year-old has been protesting his innocence, and recently took a step towards what he referred to as ‘vindication’ when the UK Anti-Doping Agency lifted his provisional suspension, leaving him free to re-apply for a British boxing license.
Speaking to Mirror Fighting, Eubank said that the most recent development should clear the path for a fight down the line.
“I guess it’s a good thing because now the fight can be made at some point, which it will. I don’t know when, but it will happen at some point in the UK, which is important. There was a lot of talks of it happening in the Middle East and that was something I didn’t really want to do because it’s such a huge fight out here.”
However, the 33-year-old isn’t allowing any statement change his opinion on the situation. He believes, verdict or otherwise, that any claim Benn is ‘absolved’ is ‘bulls**t.’
“Lawyers and court hearings and essays and Eddie Hearn saying all the things he’s saying – it doesn’t mean anything. The fact is you got caught twice and no-one’s ever gonna forget it. It doesn’t mean that you didn’t do what you did, cause you did do it.”
You want to say ‘I’m absolved and it was all a big misunderstanding’, nah that’s bulls**t. Boxing’s a business and I still wanna fight him, so the fight will be made at some point.”
As Benn sets about applying to fight in his home country, Eubank prepares for a rematch with Liam Smith. He took the first fight in January following the cancellation last year, and was served the first stoppage loss of his career.
The marketability of a future Benn fight hangs on the result come September 2.