Tony Bellew believes that Conor Benn has information that will see him prove his innocence in the doping scandal that rocked British boxing.
The undefeated welterweight was all set to fight Chris Eubank Jr in October of 2022 when news broke on fight week that he had failed a drug test for banned substance, Clomiphene. It was later revealed that it was the second test he had failed that year.
Benn has spent the time between then and now claiming innocence, and has provided the WBC with a 270 page dossier of evidence he believes will prove that.
With that investigation seemingly concluded and an announcement of the findings due soon, former cruiserweight world champion, Bellew, reckons that Benn has the information to clear his name.
He spoke on the DAZN Boxing Show about his general view on ‘drug cheats’, but clarified that Benn hadn’t been proven guilty yet.
“I’ve said before, no one should be classed as guilty until proven. It needs to be clarified. It needs to be cleared up. I’ve openly said numerous occasions ban all performance-enhancing drug cheats, ban them all for life, but this needs to be addressed.”
Bellew then pointed out that, whilst he wasn’t fully clued up, he had reason to believe that what Benn has provided has people ‘scared.’
“This boy has had a pivotal moment in time in his career taken away from him.
He really has. It needs to be cleared up as soon as possible, because it seems like people are now passing the buck and everyone’s scared cause this lad has got some information at hand that can speak an awful lot of positives on his side.
We’ll find out all in due course. None of us are sports scientists, none of us really know. This is just hearsay. But if this boy comes out with what I believe he’s gonna come out with, then he’s gonna prove himself as an innocent boy.”
The WBC investigation into Benn is one of two. Whilst this will determine whether he can re-enter the sanctioning body’s rankings and fight for their titles, the British Boxing Board of Control are also looking into the case.