Eddie Hearn on Conor Benn: “He’s got a big fight on his hands”

By Barry Holbrook: Eddie Hearn says Conor Benn has a “Big fight on his hands” in needing to clear his name after his positive test for clomifene, causing his lucrative fight with Chris Eubank Jr to fall through last weekend.

Hearn’s language of saying that Benn has “fight on his hands” suggests to some that the Matchroom Boxing promoter is distancing himself from this situation. To be sure, Conor could be banned for four years.

Additionally, there’s a huge backlash over the positive test for Benn (21-0, 14 KOs), and Hearn has been getting dumped on almost as much as him because he had wanted to try and keep the Eubank Jr-Benn on for last Saturday despite VADA’s findings.

“Obviously, he’s got a big fight on his hands,” said Eddie Hearn to Matchroom Boxing about Conor Benn’s situation with him testing positive for clomifene. “There’s a lot of information we know about the testing that will come to light.

“Everyone is very quick to make their assumptions, as always in this situation. We’ve seen it before with Dillian Whyte. I didn’t see many people apologize when Dillian Whyte was cleared of all charges and was completely innocent in that situation.

“Conor Benn will have the right to clear his name. People should let him do that. I’ve seen the criticism, but I also understand that this wasn’t something that was kept from anybody.

“It was discussed between all parties in the fight, from the fighters, the promoters, and the commission. We have to let the commission do their job, which ultimately they did.

“It wasn’t a case of the story stopped the fight. The commission had made their decision before any story came out in the media, and we had to go through that process.

“As I said, once you find out the information about the testing, it was a difficult situation because people were comfortable with the scientific facts around that.

“We wanted Conor Benn to have his opportunity, as many before, to be heard. That will happen post-fight, and obviously, the fight not taking place.

“Let him have that time; let him have that moment. He has to go out, and it’s obviously a very important time for him now because some people have made their minds up as they’ve done before. Let the facts come out and make a decision,” said Hearn.