Conor Benn: British fighter has provisional suspension lifted after two-year battle
Benn was initially suspended from boxing in March 2023 after he failed two voluntary tests for clomifene before his cancelled bout with fellow Briton Chris Eubank Jr.
The pair were scheduled to meet on 8 October 2022 at a catchweight of 157lb, around 30 years after their fathers Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr fought. Eubank Sr won the first fight in 1990, while the 1993 rematch was declared a draw.
Clomifene can be used to boost testosterone levels in men, and is banned inside and outside competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).
BBBofC general secretary Robert Smith said Benn was provisionally barred from participating in any capacity in a competition organised, convened, authorised or recognised by his organisation.
Benn has always insisted he is innocent of intentionally doping. He has blamed “contamination” for the findings. His defence outlined there was a fault with the Vada testing laboratory.
An independent report by the WBC in February 2023 said his failed drugs test was not intentional and could have been caused by a “highly-elevated consumption” of eggs, but Benn was still under investigation by Ukad and the BBBofC.
NADP lifted the suspension last July and Benn believed he was free to fight in the UK again.
However, appeals made by Ukad and the BBBofC against that decision were upheld in May.
Speaking to BBC Sport in October, promoter Hearn said Benn had been “penalised by his resistance to accept guilt” and that his fighter would be fighting in the UK sooner had he taken a ban handed to him following the failed test.
“For me, knowing and believing he is innocent, to see what he has had to go through over the past two years is pretty brutal,” Hearn said.
“Unfortunately because of the way the process has played out, he’s ruffled feathers with the authorities and he hasn’t played ball.
“They would have liked to tidy the situation up quickly but he wanted to appeal, explore and provide his reasoning and evidence.”
Benn has fought twice in the United States with the most recent in February a unanimous points win over Peter Dobson in a welterweight contest in Las Vegas.
Had he accepted guilt and a subsequent ban in the UK, however, it is unlikely American athletic commissions – who tend to side with sanctions handed to fighters by their international counterparts – would have allowed Benn to compete in the country.
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