Conor Benn vs Chris Eubank Jr fight fiasco shows boxing is now becoming the wild west
Boxing is the wild west of the sporting world.
If you ever needed further proof then just look at how Wednesday unfolded in the stratosphere of the so-called sweet science.
Only in boxing would a day like this happen. It must be said that Conor Benn is innocent until proven guilty.
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He has a right to due process, he has a right to get his B-sample tested, explain himself or find out why the specimen he provided came back with an adverse analytical finding.
There may be a reason why this happened that was not his fault. There may not be. But the fact of the matter is he has provided an adverse analytical finding because of a banned substance in a sample provided to the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.
His fight with Chris Eubank Jr should not be taking place this weekend. Not until the matter has been resolved and Benn has been through the process of trying to clear his name.
(Image: Action Images via Reuters)
Money would be lost but there needs to be some sort of control. The British Boxing Board of Control tried to bring some sanity to a crazy day by calling a halt to the fight.
The response? Legal challenges from the show’s promoter Eddie Hearn over technicalities. Their argument simply seems to be that the BBBofC use UK Anti-Doping for testing and not VADA.
But, as pointed out by many, why bother paying VADA to do separate testing if the results will just be ignored. The B-sample has also yet to be tested. The participants in the event were made aware of the issue with the test last month.
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Why hasn’t it been tested in that time? That is a question yet to be answered correctly. The BBBofC also need to respond to why they only decided on Tuesday night that they wanted to pull the plug on the fight.
There may have been a due process to go through but they need to answer the question. What must those outside of boxing think of it when they see what happened on Wednesday.
Hearn is right to point out that Benn is not suspended by the BBBofC. There’s no worldwide governing body to trigger any sanctions either.
(Image: PA)
VADA is only a testing agency and don’t hand out suspensions, either. Benn may never get his due process. This may hang over his career forever.
Benn got negative results in all his UKAD tests. If he had failed one of them then he would have been hauled in front of the National Anti-Doping Panel to explain himself.
Then they would have cleared him or suspended him pending an investigation. VADA doesn’t have such authority.
Now it seems he may just be allowed to fight on Saturday against Eubank Jr.
(Image: Allsport/ Getty Images)
The battle of the sons of two of British boxing’s biggest icons may go ahead under a cloud of suspicion if Hearn gets his way with the BBBofC. But the names of Benn and Eubank bring about horrible thoughts of Gerald McClellan and Michael Watson.
Two fighters who suffered life-changing injuries at the hands of the two rivals. Eubank Sr has already voiced his concern about this fight going ahead because of his son getting down to the catchweight of 157lbs.
There is the hope that facing a smaller man in welterweight Benn alleviates some of the dangers. But this is one of the most dangerous sports of all. Benn may yet be cleared of any wrongdoing and if so then great.
But should this fight be forced through while there are still questions and something bad happens on Saturday night then boxing fans won’t just be explaining why this is the wild west of sport. They’ll be left to defend why it should still even exist.
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