Eddie Hearn has responded to claims made by Chris Eubank Jr that he was never informed of Conor Benn’s first failed doping test.
Outside of a difference in weight, Eubank and Benn’s October fight almost seemed too good to be true. Both are sons of British legends in Chris Sr and Nigel who fought twice themselves, so their bout came with a history unlike any other.
The young men were never to enter the ring though, as it was revealed on fight week that Benn had tested positive for a banned substance in September.
Once the fight was postponed, it was later revealed that there was a previous failed test in July for the same substance – one which he and his team were convinced was a mistake.
His promoter, Hearn, was forced to defend the procedure followed after Eubank recently came out to say he wouldn’t have agreed to fight if he had been told about the July test.
Hearn told iD Boxing that nobody knew about that test, because the results weren’t returned until after contracts were finalised and signed, and that Eubank knew about the test before the fight.
“Not true. He knew about that test before the fight. He was actually still willing to progress with that fight. I think one of his comments was ‘if I would have known about that, I wouldn’t have signed the contract’ – we didn’t know about it until well after the contracts were signed for the fight, so there’s nothing that anybody could’ve done in that respect.”
“When we got the information, there was an ongoing case hearing, it was a confidential case with the WBC. [Eubank Jr’s] team were made aware of that [test]. They were still willing to proceed with that. So, again, it’s one for Kalle [Sauerland].
I think a lot of these interviews, in terms of timings and stuff like that, that’s the bigger question. What I can tell you is, he was aware of that before the fight was cancelled, he was prepared to progress with the fight – or his team knew about that before.”
The promoter went on to provide an update about Benn’s current situation, reinforcing reports that there may be news before the year is out as to what the future looks like for the fighter.
Hearn, as he has been all along, is confident that people will change their minds.
“Also, the British Boxing Board of Control were aware of that first test. There was a procedure going on that was confidential to them and the hearing and, yeah, that’s it. That hearing now, as you’ve heard from Mauricio [Sulaiman] is deep in. And I heard an interview saying end of this month we’ll have a result, and I can’t wait, because I think a lot of people are going to be surprised by what’s about to come out for Conor Benn.”