Boxing journalist Dan Rafael has had his say on Conor Benn’s recent ‘adverse fining’ via VADA testing, which led to the postponement of his fight against Chris Eubank Jr.
This week was meant to be a monumental one for boxing, with a famous rivalry reigniting in a way that no other has, however it has instead been a dark period for the sport.
On Wednesday, it was reported that Conor Benn had tested positive for trace amounts of clomiphene, a women’s fertility drug claimed to increase testosterone levels. In an interview with Boxing Social, Rafael pointed out how important it is to look into the detail of each individual case and not paint all boxers who fail a test with the same brush – but noted the severity of Benn’s case.
“If a Mexican athlete tested positive for a small, small amount of Clenbuterol, to me, that’s a far different thing than if your Conor Benn and you test positive for a known substance that is used to increase testosterone.”
“People want to make a blanket statement that every single drug test failure is somehow the same. None of them are good, but there are degrees of differences; when you tested, which substance, the technicalities of the rules in the location where you tested positive. In the case of Conor Benn, the substance that he tested positive for is hardcore doping stuff that is used to do bad things.”
With a wealth of knowledge in boxing and a history of writing about these kinds of scenarios, Rafael also detailed that this kind of drug does not enter the body by accident and therefore showed a lack of sympathy towards Benn and his team.
“The way that it gets into a persons’ system is that they knowingly take it or, and this is not out of the realms of possibility, that somebody gave it to him.”
“You are responsible for what is in your body, however it got there, that’s your problem not ours. Whether he took it knowingly or somebody gave it to him, and he took it unknowingly, is not anybody’s problem but Conor Benn’s. You have to know what goes in your body.”
The Mail are now reporting that UKAD are set to investigate the VADA findings, meaning if found to have taken the drug, he could be looking at a ban of up to four years. However, it is important to remember that he is indeed innocent until proven guilty and there will inevitably be new details that come out in the coming days.