British Boxing Board insists Conor Benn must go through an investigation

The British Boxing Board of Control have said that if Conor Benn and Chris Eubank fight while the UKAD appeal into Benn’s two positive drugs tests is ongoing, then the Board will not sanction the contest

Eubank and Benn had been due to fight last October until news of the tests emerged and the Board refused to sanction the contest. A rescheduled date of February 3, 2024, had been in the works.

Speaking to talkSPORT today, Board general secretary Robert Smith said: “The Board feel any athlete who has failed a drugs test needs to go through an investigation with the proper authorities and that hasn’t happened.”
Benn has racked up hefty legal fees in an attempt to prove his innocence, and he is no longer suspended by UKAD, although UKAD and the British Boxing Board of Control are appealing a National Anti-Doping Body decision regarding Benn.

The WBC recently installed Benn back into their ratings, and he fought in Florida defeating Rodolfo Orozco over 10 rounds on September 23, in his first outing since a two-roundblitzing of Chris van Heerden in April 2022.

The proposed Benn and Eubank bout has been discussed widely in boxing as finally taking place on February 3, and possibly at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, but if the Board stand firm, then promoters will have to either license the fighters with other governing bodies (Benn does not hold a UK license, he relinquished it over another matter), or take the fight
elsewhere.

Eddie Hearn had previously said Eubank-Benn could happen in Abu Dhabi. But with the Saudi Arabian money freely flowing through the sport, there will be other avenues available.