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Nick Parkinson
Welterweight contender Conor Benn had his suspension lifted by the U.K. National Anti-Doping Panel (NAPD) following his positive test for a banned substance before his cancelled fight with Chris Eubank Jr. in October 2022.
Benn (23-0, 14 KOs), 28, failed two drugs tests conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) before he was due to face English rival Eubank, a high-profile encounter in the U.K.
Benn tested positive for the female fertility drug clomifene, which is banned inside and outside competition by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The NAPD, the United Kingdom’s independent tribunal responsible for adjudicating anti-doping disputes in sport, and the British Boxing Board of Control subsequently banned Benn, who has since twice fought in nontitle bouts outside of the U.K.
But his suspension has now been lifted after UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), the organisation responsible for protecting sport in the U.K. from doping, said Wednesday that the NAPD was “not comfortably satisfied” that UKAD had proved its case against Benn.
“UKAD can confirm that it received the decision of the independent National Anti-Doping Panel this afternoon,” a UKAD spokesperson said. “The Panel concluded that it was ‘not comfortably satisfied’ that UKAD had proved that Mr Benn had committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation for the Use of clomifene. The provisional suspension previously in place has been lifted and the charge against him has been consequently dismissed.
“UKAD will now carefully review the Panel’s decision in accordance with its appeal rights under the UK Anti-Doping Rules.”
UKAD has 21 days from Wednesday’s decision to file an appeal.
The British Boxing Board of Control has yet to reinstate Benn’s boxing licence to enable him to fight in the U.K.
Benn, who lives in Essex, said he now believes he is free to box in the U.K. and that he has been cleared of any offences, although the NAPD and British Boxing Board of Control have yet to comment.
“I am thankful that after an incredibly challenging 2 years the National Anti-Doping Panel has today finally cleared me of any wrongdoing,” Benn wrote Wednesday on X.
“This past 24 months has unquestionably been the toughest fight of my life.
“A rollercoaster period within which the WBC had already decided that I was innocent and the NADP decided in the first instance that there was no case to answer and I was free to fight.
“As someone who is so passionate about boxing and an advocate for clean sport, I hope now I have been cleared it can be understood why I have maintained my innocence so strongly throughout.”
The NADP briefly lifted Benn’s ban earlier this year, only to reinstate it in May after an appeal from the British Boxing Board of Control.
ESPN contacted the NAPD, but it declined to comment Wednesday.
ESPN contacted the British Board of Control, but nobody was available for comment Wednesday.
For Benn to fight in the U.K. again, he still needs to obtain a boxing license from the British Boxing Board of Control. An appeal would delay him from fighting in the U.K. once more, meaning he will need to fight in the United States or Saudi Arabia next.
That did not stop him calling out English rival Eubank as well as Americans Gervonta Davis and Devin Haney on Wednesday.
Benn might have to step up to middleweight, where Eubank (34-3, 25 KOs), 35, operates, to make the fight he desperately wants. The pair clashed in the ring following a routine win by Eubank last month.
Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn, the fathers of Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn, had two epic encounters in 1990 and 1993, and the clash would generate huge interest in the U.K.
Benn won a unanimous, 12-round decision over Peter Dobson in his last fight, held in Las Vegas in February. He last fought in his native England in April 2022.