UK Anti-Doping (Ukad) has announced that Conor Benn was charged with the alleged use of clomifene, a banned substance that boosts testosterone, this month. The charge could result in a two-year ban for the British boxer who has been trying to resume his troubled career abroad without clearing his name in public first.
This latest development marks a further hardening in Ukad’s approach to the case, which first made news last October when, in the week of his planned and heavily hyped fight against Chris Eubank Jr, it emerged that Benn had returned a positive test result for clomifene. Despite initial efforts to proceed with the bout, the media and public uproar forced its cancellation. Later that month Benn admitted he had also returned a second and earlier positive test result for clomifene. Both these results were recorded by Vada (the Voluntary Anti-Doping Authority) and, while Benn had not failed any Ukad tests, the British agency took serious note of the two separate positives.
On Tuesday it was reported that Ukad had provisionally suspended Benn on 15 March. While Ukad would not confirm or deny that news then, as it only comments on unresolved investigations in “exceptional circumstances”, on Thursday it made a public statement that began with the assertion that the Benn case is one of those “limited and rare examples”.
Ukad declared: “Following reports in the media and comments made by professional boxer Mr Conor Benn on Tuesday 18 April 2023, and in exceptional circumstances, UK Anti-Doping confirms that Mr Benn was notified and provisionally suspended by Ukad on 15 March 2023 in accordance with the UK Anti-Doping Rules … Ukad can also confirm that on 3 April 2023 it charged Mr Benn with an Article 2.2 violation for the alleged use of a prohibited substance (clomifene). The charge against Mr Benn is pending and will now follow the results management process in accordance with the UK Anti-Doping Rules.”
Benn, who has always protested his innocence, responded with an attempted dismissal of Ukad’s intervention. “Another day, another attempt to create a headline with my name,” he wrote on Twitter. “I am involved in a confidential procedure and I have respected my confidentiality obligations. Yet each day brings a new leak and a misrepresentation of what’s actually happening. There is no news. Being ‘charged’ is a start of a process by which an athlete has to defend themselves. I have not been sanctioned by anyone & I’m not banned from boxing. I remain free to fight in events that are not sanctioned by the BBBoC [British Boxing Board of Control]. I don’t even have a BBBoC licence.”
The boxer relinquished his British licence in late October but attempts by Benn and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, to obtain a licence to box in the US have so far remained unfulfilled. Hearn has suggested repeatedly over the past month that Benn’s comeback would be in the Middle East on 3 June but plans to announce that fight have been delayed.
While Benn could fight in another territory, should he be granted a licence to box elsewhere, his trainers and Hearn, as his promoter, would be at risk of sanctions from the British board as they adhere to Ukad regulations. They could lose their British licences, at least temporarily, should they ignore Benn’s Ukad suspension.
The Ukad statement continued: “Whilst provisionally suspended Mr Benn is prohibited from participating in any capacity (or assisting another athlete in any capacity) in a competition, event or activity that is organised, convened, authorised or recognised by the British Boxing Board of Control or any other World Anti-Doping Code-compliant sport.”
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Benn has long insisted that a 270-page report produced by his team provides scientific proof that clears him. But until recently that document had been shared only with the World Boxing Council (WBC), the sanctioning body. The WBC returned him to its list of top 10 welterweights after concluding Benn had not intentionally ingested a banned substance but it disputed his attribution of blame to the testing laboratory. Ukad apparently now has the report and its charge against Benn has been laid.
On Thursday, Hearn blamed Ukad and the BBBoC for the “mess” and said: “Now [Benn] has to go through the Ukad situation, and who knows how long it’s going to take? We have to go through the process, but the whole thing stinks.”
Benn’s legal team did not respond when approached by the Guardian for further comment.
