“If the evidence shows I’m guilty, ban me for life.”
It’s not the sort of statement you expect to hear from a boxer who twice returned adverse analytical findings in 2022, causing the biggest fight of his life to collapse and his world in the sport as he knew it to fall apart.
But Conor Benn remains fiercely convinced of his innocence. Over the course of 45 minutes talking to UK boxing reporters, ostensibly to promote his February 3 fight in Las Vegas against undefeated and largely unknown American Peter Dobson, Benn had plenty to get off his chest and was at turns defiant, remorseful and emotional.
By way of a recap, the 27-year-old’s proposed October 2022 meeting with Chris Eubank Jr. — a contrast pulling at the nostalgic heartstrings of a nation as it echoed their fathers’ seismic battles three decades earlier — fell apart when it emerged he had tested positive for the banned substance clomiphene.
WATCH: Benn vs. Dobson live on DAZN
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) said it would not sanction the contest and, in the aftermath, it emerged Benn had failed a second test for the testosterone-boosting female fertility drug during the build-up.
In February 2022, the WBC – which oversaw Benn’s July 2022 positive as part of its…
