Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr’s struggle could possibly be cancelled this weekend after the British Boxing Board of Control stepped in and stated the bout was “prohibited” following a failed drug check.
Promoters Matchroom Boxing and Wasserman Boxing had issued a joint assertion insisting the bout would go forward regardless of Benn returning an “adverse analytical finding for trace amounts of a fertility drug”.
However, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) stated the struggle, scheduled to happen on the O2 Arena on Saturday, was “not in the interests of boxing”.
The BBBofC stated in a press release: “On the evening of 4 October 2022, the board of the British Boxing Board of Control Limited resolved that the contest between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn scheduled to take place on 8 October 2022 is prohibited as it is not in the interests of boxing.
“That was communicated to the boxers and promoters concerned on the morning of 5 October 2022.”
Benn and Eubank Jr had been because of conflict in a contest that was set to be the third instalment of the household rivalry which began with their fathers, Chris Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn, who fought twice within the Nineteen Nineties.
Earlier, Matchroom and Wasserman Boxing launched a press release saying: “We have been made conscious {that a} random anti-doping check for Conor Benn carried out by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association returned an adversarial analytical discovering for hint quantities of a fertility drug.
“The B sample has yet to be tested, meaning that no rule violation has been confirmed. Indeed, Mr Benn has not been charged with any rule violation, he is not suspended, and he remains free to fight.
“Mr Benn has since handed a doping management check carried out by the UK Anti-Doping Agency, the anti-doping authority to which the British Board of Boxing Control has delegated its doping management testing for the bout. Mr Benn has handed all doping management checks carried out by UKAD.
“Both fighters have taken medical and legal advice, are aware of all relevant information, and wish to proceed with the bout this Saturday.”
Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn has since stated that attorneys had been going “back and forth” to attempt to get the struggle to go forward.
Source: information.sky.com”