The Conor Benn doping drama continues to confuse.
Whilst the fighter himself is in the process of attempting to prove his innocence after testing positive for WADA banned substance, Clomiphene, more details about who knew what when are coming to light.
Benn’s fight with Chris Eubank Jr was pulled just days out when the news of his September failed test broke. In the wake of the postponement, he spoke to some of the national news outlets and revealed that there had been another failed test for the same substance – this time in July, before the Eubank fight was signed.
Yesterday we reported that Eubank Jr wasn’t made aware of this, and now his promoter has confirmed the same. Kalle Sauerland told Boxing Social he wasn’t informed either, and hazarded a guess as to why.
“I didn’t know either! I’m not sure whether… I still don’t know what else there is for us to know that we don’t know, and we’ve certainly not received any other test results. Is that because it didn’t legally apply to us? I don’t know. Because I don’t know the test result, do I? That’s something that I’m sure will come out, like I think everything will come out, and we’ve got to be patient.”
“That’s why by the way also, you know people said ‘you said that the fight was only postponed.’ Yes, and I do believe that fight, should Benn be cleared or serve his punishment, I do believe that fight will still happen. But we couldn’t wait around, waiting for that to happen. It’s Junior’s career – he’s lost a fight this year because of that.”
It seems that fans – and some people that were much closer to the event like Sauerland and Eubank – won’t get all of the information until it is laid out as part of a formal investigation.
There’s an underlying sense that some details may remain uncovered, but for the good of the sport that should not be the case.