As Conor Benn’s doping drama continues to unfold, the WBC have confirmed the status of the B sample for his first failed test.
News broke that Benn had tested positive for Clomiphene in October of 2022, causing his familial grudge match with Chris Eubank Jr to be pulled at the last minute.
Benn later revealed that another test earlier in the year, conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency in association with the WBC’s Clean Boxing Program, had shown the same banned substance.
The WBC have since cleared Benn of wrongdoing, pointing to a highly elevated consumption of eggs as a reasonable explanation for Clomiphene in his system. The statement concluded that the testing agency acted properly and there was no laboratory fault or collection issues.
President of the sanctioning body, Mauricio Sulaiman, recently confirmed the the DAZN Boxing Show that the B sample of said test returned the same findings.
“The B [sample] concluded the same result [as the A sample].”
It’s no real surprise that the B sample was the same. The practice of splitting the specimen is there to confirm the accuracy of the A sample, and will show a different result only in extremely rare cases of contamination.
The testing of the confirmatory sample is a touchy subject for the fighter, though. He recently claimed that his representative, who flew across the world to be there, was refused entry to the room where it was being checked.
It’s something the sanctioning body directly disputes, claiming ‘there were no failures in the procedures related to sample collection, sample analysis, or violations of Mr. Benn’s B Sample rights that would justify questioning or invalidating the Adverse Finding.’
Speaking more generally, Sulaiman went on to say he feels sorry for Benn.
“The WBC does not issue licenses … I believe he needs to get a license and continue his career. I’m sorry for Conor Benn. He has been under horrible scrutiny and has been receiving a lot of hate. It’s a complicated world. The doping matter is always difficult.
We have had many cases with the Clean Boxing Program. We started this with VADA eight years ago, [it] has been a great success, and I’m just very sorry for every single situation because it’s different. It’s different substances, different circumstances – but anyone who has an adverse finding immediately is billed, or labelled, cheater.”
Whilst the WBC consider the case closed, Benn doesn’t. His latest statement, as mentioned above, makes it clear that he’s unhappy with the eggs verdict and believes that the substance was never in his system in the first place.
In the UK, Benn remains the subject of a British Boxing Board of Control case, and it’s been strongly hinted that any attempt to fight in the country, even under a foreign license, will be blocked until that investigation has been cooperated with and reached its conclusion.