Applying for British boxing licence allows Conor Benn to leave past ‘at the door’
Eddie Hearn envisages there being no issue with Conor Benn being licenced by the British Boxing Board of Control ahead of his fight with Chris Eubank Jnr on April 26.
Having relinquished his licence in 2023, Benn seems set to reapply to the Board and to box under a British licence once more.
Benn’s past two fights have been in America, where he has boxed with a licence from the Texas State Athletic Commission, and they came after he twice submitted samples that contained adverse findings for clomiphene ahead of when the fight with Eubank Jnr was first scheduled scheduled.
Despite the efforts of organisers to proceed with the show, it was pulled at the 11th hour but it has since been rescheduled – and is bigger than ever, contributing to more than 60,000 tickets being sold for their fight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Hearn expects the process of Benn again being licenced by the Board to prove “pretty straightforward”
He also said that, through the fight’s promotional tour, during which Eubank Jnr slapped an egg in his face in Manchester before a final face off at Tottenham, Hearn and Robert Smith, the Board’s general secretary, spent time discussing the issue.
Once the 35-year-old Eubank Jnr shoved that egg into Benn’s face, Smith called Hearn ahead of the second face-off.
“One of the blessings of the last three days was I got a chance to talk to Robert Smith, because, obviously, Robert called me after and said, listen, ‘What’s the plan for Thursday? Because we can’t have this again’,” the promoter told BS. “I said, ‘No, you’re right. Look, we’re going to have security between them. They will not be able to get anywhere near each other…’
“And he was like, ‘I really feel like he should apply to us. I really feel like any British fighter that fights in this country should have a British Boxing Board of Control licence’, which I have said in every interview. Then, I called Conor after my conversation with Robert Smith, and I said, ‘Listen, Conor’s a bit of a hothead.’”
Benn, 28, has maintained his innocence throughout, and he has also vigorously asserted that his treatment has been different from other fighters who have failed drugs tests, but Hearn has advised him to reapply for his licence with the British Boxing Board of Control and move on.
“I said to him, ‘Look, I have to be honest with you, as your promoter and your mate, I really think you should apply for your British Board of Control license,’” Hearn said. “‘I’m not doing my job if I don’t give you my honest opinion. You won, right? And it ain’t a case of who won and who lost, but the reality is, you’ve had your hearing. It’s over. You should be fighting under a British Boxing Board of Control licence, and to be honest with you, I think it's a good look. If you’re not… I know the media will never stop asking questions. You’ve got to be bigger than that sometimes, and it’s never going to stop the questions, but it’s going to say, look, we’re moving forward. And the Board are acknowledging that.’”
Hearn said Benn’s ego was stopping him from applying, but he was confident the situation would be resolved and he believes that that will be the end of the matter that has, for two years, dominated chatter about performance enhancing drugs in boxing.
The NADP (National Anti-Doping Panel), who have cleared Benn to fight, and UKAD (UK Anti-Doping) will no longer stand in Benn’s way.
“I just think as well, for Conor, it’s kind of like the final little leave there at the door – it’s over,” said Hearn.
