Conor Benn has called for all drug cheats to be banned for life and says he does not accept he ever had Clomifene in his body at all.
Benn is still fighting to clear his name after an arranged contest with Chris Eubank Jr in October was pulled during fight week after it was revealed that there was an adverse finding in a VADA test. Benn would later reveal that he tested positive for traces of the same substance a few weeks earlier in a separate test.
The 26-year-old has vehemently maintained his innocence in the five months since and the WBC recently reinstated him to their rankings after suggesting that the adverse finding may have been caused by what they described as a ‘highly elevated consumption of eggs’.
Now Benn has spoken out about the situation, rejecting that suggestion from the WBC entirely and insisting that he believes there was never any Clomifene in his body in the first place due to a number of negative tests, including every one taken with UK Anti-Doping.
He is also adamant that drug cheats should be banned from boxing for life because of the damage that can be caused and cited his father’s tragic fight with Gerald McClellan as evidence of that.
Speaking to Talk TV, he said: “They should be banned for life, especially in contact sports. There’s no room for them. I know first hand what happens when my dad fought Gerald McClellan. And people think I’d do this?
“I don’t accept it was in my body, not at all. Based on independent scientists looking at the reports, looking at my own scientists looking at the reports and what we found.
“People say you may have paid for the best legal team, damn right I did. Damn right I paid for the best scientists. My career, image and name is on the line. I can’t be known for this.”
On the WBC’s suggestion that eggs may have caused the issue, Benn added: “I don’t think that. I don’t accept that [eggs].
“Me and my team were on a Zoom call with the WBC, they came out and said one of their scientists is currently dealing with two cyclists who have tested positive for Clomifene in traces and they can prove it’s in the embryos in the eggs.
“But I’m not willing to accept it because the 270-page report that my legal team sent over to them had nothing to do with eggs. It had everything to do with my test testing negative three times and nine days later testing positive.”
Benn, who has now not boxed since he stopped Chris van Heerden in two rounds last April, also revealed that the past five months have left him feeling suicidal.
“I didn’t think I was going to make it through this period. I was taking it day by day,” he said.
“I was having night terrors and panic attacks. I was really struggling, in a really bad way and I was coping terribly with it. It’s still hard for me and I still can’t believe I’m in this situation.
“[on social media] People have told me to kill myself, sent racist comments to my son. It has been brutal, it feels like a witc hunt and I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.
“I just want to get back fighting but fighting is the easy part, this has been the hardest fight I’ve had to face.”