Conor Benn spoke out in depth this week for the first time since his failed doping tests rocked British boxing and sent shockwaves across the entire sport.
Far from changing people’s minds, the interviews Benn took part in only served to highlight that he had in fact failed two drug tests before his scheduled fight with Chris Eubank Jr when it was previously thought to be just one. The fight was postponed and Benn has been in name-clearing mode ever since.
According to veteran boxing journalist, Dan Rafael, the way the young fighter’s team have dealt with the situation in the public eye leaves a lot to be desired. He summed it up for Boxing Social.
“As far as where we are now, all I know is that Conor Benn, whether he gave up the license because he just felt like he had to do it or he knew it was going to be revoked from him because of this situation – kind of like ‘oh you’re fired’ ‘no, I quit’ … the bottom line is you don’t have a license and Conor Benn is not going to fight for a while.”
“And by the way, the way they’re approaching this is one of the worst PR things I’ve ever seen in my life. I’ll give them a little piece of free advice – when you’re in a hole, stop digging.”
“I certainly appreciate the openness that they have, but it gets to a point where it’s like just be quiet for and let the investigation go forward, and try to keep your story straight.”
With hints from the team that they are going to claim contamination as the cause of the failed tests, it’s assumed that Benn is working behind the scenes with scientists to gather information that may change the minds’ of fans who already think the worst.
As Rafael says, at one point a formal investigation must take over and do the talking.