Chris Eubank Jr’s trainer wants Conor Benn to be officially cleared of any wrongdoing before a potential fight between them is made.
Brian “Bomac” McIntyre helped Eubank Jr to revive his career the night in September that he guided him to victory in his rematch with Liam Smith, and a fight between the two rivals has again become the most lucrative option in both of their careers.
Benn returned to the ring for the first time since their first fight was cancelled over his testing positive for the banned substance clomifene when he defeated Rodolfo Orozco in Orlando, Florida in September, and while by then the National Anti-Doping Panel had lifted his suspension – it was a test with the Voluntary Anti Doping Association that led to the fight with Eubank getting cancelled – he is yet to be cleared by UK Anti-Doping or the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBC). For their part, Benn and his promoter Eddie Hearn insist that he has been cleared to fight; they have also said that their preference is to be licensed to fight by the BBBC.
December 23 had been considered a potential date for Benn-Eubank to be rescheduled for and it is little secret that Matchroom hope to promote it in 2024. Whether Benn is his opponent McIntyre expects to work Eubank Jr’s corner for his next fight, but he believes it is best for all concerned if Benn is cleared through all relevant channels before they do if it is him.
“I’d like to see him get cleared first and get his licence and then [fight], so we won’t have no problems,” the trainer told ProBox TV. “That’s what we hoping for.
“I think any fight Chris wants will be a good fight for him because he got that dog in him, you know what I’m saying? He just gotta put his mind to it.
“I’ve spoken to his team – his management team – we got a verbal agreement [to continue working together]. Just waiting on when they can get their business together over there. Once they get it together, the management team will give me a call.
“Usually he trains here in the US.”
For his final fight, the defeat by Kell Brook last year, Amir Khan tested positive for ostarine having prepared under McIntyre, but Khan continues to insist that he does not know how the banned substance got into his system, and an independent tribunal ruled out “deliberate or reckless conduct” when he was given a two-year ban.
McIntyre has since continued to enhance his reputation, first by overseeing Terence Crawford’s victory over Errol Spence and then Eubank Jr’s over Smith, and he said: “Eubank already had it in him. He just needed a reminder. Just little small things so he won’t continue to make the mistakes that he did in the first fight. That was it. Just a reminder.
“You wanna give our team a lot of credit but we was a small part, because he already had it in him. It just took us a reminder.”
McIntyre is in Las Vegas with Troy Isley, who at the T-Mobile Arena fights Vladimir Hernandez on the undercard of Shakur Stevenson-Edwin de los Santos. It was in October that he was released after five weeks in prison in the UK, after he was arrested on a gun charge and handed a 20-month suspended sentence, and he said: “It’s great, man. Freedom is lovely. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“To be honest with you, I wasn’t worried a bit [about the prospect of a long-term spell in prison]. I had a great legal team and everybody was real respectful and kind, and I had some good brothers in the jail. There was some good brothers in there man, so I wasn’t worried one bit.
“It wasn’t [difficult]. Not at all. It was a much-needed vacation.”
