Conor Benn has finally seen himself return to the rankings of the WBC after a failed test saw him removed from the rankings last summer. Ahead of his mega-fight against Chris Eubank Jr., VADA (Voluntary Anti Doping Association) notified the WBC and all sanctioning and governing bodies within boxing that a sample that Benn had provided in July had shown positive for the banned substance Clomiphene. Clomiphene enhances and boosts testosterone production and levels while cutting body fat. Benn’s fight with Eubank was called off and he remained under investigation by various sanctioning and governing bodies in boxing.
As of February 22nd, however, Conor Benn has been cleared by the WBC who released a statement which stated that “there was no conclusive evidence that Mr. Benn engaged in intentional or knowing ingestion of Clomiphene”, absolving him of any fault. The organisation also offered explanation as to why Benn’s sample contained trace amounts of Clomiphene and reasons that Benn’s diet at the time, specifically his “highly elevated consumption of eggs” provides an answer to this. The WBC also state that their nutrition committee will work closely with Benn in the future in order to prevent a future adverse finding occuring due to nutritional factors and Benn will be subjected to regular Anti-Doping testing to ensure that this does not happen again. A link to the WBC’s statement is provided here.
It is also worth noting that despite the WBC welcoming Benn back into its rankings, they are simply a sanctioning body in boxing and not a governing one. Benn is still under investigation by the British Boxing Board of Control who have said that the ruling of the WBC will not affect their investigation, as per a statement released on their Twitter account.
While Benn is able to fight with the WBC it is clear that until the British Board of Boxing Control are presented with evidence which they deem to be satisfactory he will not be issued a licence to box within the UK and his next fight will likely be overseas, most likely in the United States.
