Conor Benn is making all of the headlines in the boxing world at the moment, having failed not one, but two VADA drugs tests in the build-up to his scheduled fight with Chris Eubank Jr.
Whilst news of a positive test rocked the sport, it was only recently that fans discovered that this was in fact Benn’s second failure, leading fans to question why they were not informed about both.
In an interview with Boxing Social, Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn defended not making the first failed test public. He insisted that the decision to release such information was in the hands of the British Boxing Board of Control rather than Conor Benn’s or his own.
“It was confidential with the British Boxing Board of Control, it was before the contracted fight testing had began, many other reasons and because of the way it was tested and the results of the test.
This will come out, but ultimately it was left in the hands of the British Boxing Board of Control, who took a very long time, they had a tough decision and unfortunately, they waited until three days before the fight, and that made it a lot worse.”
As Hearn mentioned, it was perhaps the timing of the fight cancellation that has made the situation worse than past instances of doping when considering so many people within the industry knew about the test weeks in advance. There were even calls for refunds on hotels and travel for boxing fans who were hoping to attend the historic event – which has instead become one of the sport’s biggest disasters.
With Benn’s first in-depth interviews now released, it’s unclear what the team’s next move will be in the saga that fans won’t let those involved forget.