Chris Eubank defends ‘pure’ Conor Benn over drug test controversy

Benn returned an adverse drug test result that saw his fight with Eubank Jr called off last week

Chris Eubank has defended Conor Benn over the adverse drug test result that led to the cancellation of the 26-year-old’s fight with Eubank Jr last week.

Almost 30 years after Eubank Sr faced Nigel Benn for the second and final time, the rivals’ sons were due to go head to head at London’s O2 Arena last Saturday. However, the younger Benn returned a test result with trace amounts of a fertility drug – namely the banned substance clomifene – and the British Boxing Board of Control subsequently prohibited the main-event contest from taking place.

Eubank Sr had been a vocal protestor of the 157lbs catchweight bout, but he has said he does not blame Benn for the adverse finding that derailed a highly-anticipated fight with Eubank Jr, 33.

“When I look at a fighter, I look at the spirit in the man,” Eubank Sr, 56, told The Fight Is Right. “Conor would have had no idea, in my view, of what they would suggest he should have.

“I’ve seen them do it, I’ve watched them. These are men who are going to be rooted out of this game, because they’re not fighters, they’re PE [physical education] teachers.

“I respect them, but not when they’re harming fighters, because – in my view – when I look at Conor Benn, that’s a pure young man.”

Eubank Jr was set to cut three pounds more than usual for his fight with Benn, who was due to move up to weight classes for the catchweight contest.

Eubank Sr had asked fans to boycott his son’s clash with Benn over concerns about Eubank Jr’s weight-cut. The British boxing icon even pleaded with Benn to pull out of the bout.

The clash between Chris Eubank Jr (left) and Conor Benn has been postponed (Steven Paston/PA) (PA Wire)

“I said to him before: ‘Don’t do this, you have a glittering career in front of you, you can beat the Americans, why don’t we partner up?’

“I spoke to him like a dad should speak to a son. Na, he... they’re not like me. I told Nigel, don’t come to these speaking engagements, it’s going to be too much pressure on you, because you let them lead your son into a pit, a snare.

“That boy [Conor Benn] is clean, he’s a clean man and a great fighter, but you have toddlers looking after us fighters – these guys they call managers and promoters.”

Eubank Sr stopped Nigel Benn in the pair’s first fight, in 1990, before the rivals fought to a split draw in a 1993 rematch.

Eubank Jr vs Benn was scheduled to take place almost 29 years to the day after their fathers’ second in-ring meeting.