The British Boxing Board of Control will not allow Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn to go ahead this weekend.
The rivals are due to meet in London on Saturday night but the fight was plunged into doubt when Benn failed a drug test. Both promoters insist the bout will take place but the Board has revealed it told the respective parties earlier today that they will not sanction the fight.
A statement read: "On the evening of October 4, 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 October 8, 2022 is prohibited as it is not in the interests of boxing. That was communicated to the boxers and promoters involved on the morning of October 5, 2022."
Benn and Eubank Jr are set to clash in a catchweight contest in what would be the third bout between the families, after their fathers fought twice in the early 1990s in one of British boxing’s greatest rivalries. But the bout was thrown into doubt following reports of Benn’s drug test which took place in August.
The 26-year-old tested positive for clomifene, a substance found in medication used to treat infertile women but which can also boost testosterone in men. But promoter Eddie Hearn insists the fight should still go ahead as he revealed talks are continuing.
"It's with the lawyers going backwards and forwards right now," he said. "The guys signed up to a multitude of testing for this fight; the UKAD testing, which is the testing agency that the BBBoC use and are governed by, have all been clear and negative. There was an adverse finding on a VADA test but there has not been an official doping violation.
"There is a process to go through; Conor Benn has not been suspended by the BBBoC because he has passed all the tests from UKAD but clearly they will take a position on it. Both camps were aware of the situation and are prepared to go ahead but conversations have to be had with the lawyers and the team and the BBBoC."
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Earlier on Wednesday, Hearn said in a statement: “We have been made aware that a random anti-doping test for Conor Benn conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association returned an adverse analytical finding for trace amounts 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 passed a doping control test conducted by the UK Anti-Doping Agency, the anti-doping authority to which the British Board of Boxing Control has delegated its doping control testing for the bout. Mr Benn has passed all doping control tests conducted 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."
