Via Barry Holbrook: Chris Eubank Jr says Conor Benn is on the run and needs to be “mastered” and says he’s sorry he showed up for PED.
Eubank Jr felt that even if Benn was acquitted by the board, the public would continue to assume that he cheated using the PED.
According to Eubank Jr (32-2, 23 KOs), he became aware of Benn’s positive test result ten days before their previously scheduled October 8 match.
At first, Eubank Jr thought Benn’s positive test result for the banned substance clomifene was a mistake. However, after a second positive test result for the analogue was revealed, Eubank Jr said he felt cheated by Benn.
Despite all that has happened, Eubank Jr said he still hopes to fight Benn in the future and he feels that they will now have a story to tell.
In the meantime, Eubank Jr will face middleweight Liam Smith next month on January 21 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Eubank Jr compared to Smith is seen as a mismatch as much as Eubank-Benn should have been.
Boxing fans want to see Eubank Jr take his career seriously, fighting top 160-pound fighters rather than rushing bouts with smaller boxers like Liam and Benn.
“I don’t know what is going on. Conor is MIA [missing in action],” Chris Eubank Jr told iFL TV when asked about Conor Benn’s condition after testing positive for PED.
“Conor is in hiding, which says a lot. You don’t hide if you are innocent. You keep hearing all this talk about him hiring all these lawyers and scientists. Conor, it’s okay. Done.
“Even if you are not guilty, you are guilty. Own up. That’s your only shot. It’s your only way out of this. If you keep doing this, ‘Try to prove me wrong, I am a victim, look at me and feel sorry for me’. No one will forgive you.
“They’re trying to say that he called me that morning, and he said, ‘Yes, I spoke to him in the morning,’ because it’s going to be in the morning, and that’s it. not true,” Eubank Jr said of Benn.
“About ten days ago, and when we talked, it was, ‘Well, this happened, and we’re going to get to the bottom of this.’ I said, ‘You are better, for your sake.’ I told him, ‘This is the worst thing that can happen to any boxer’s career. So for your sake, I hope you can figure this out because if not, that’s it,'” Eubank Jr said when asked if he’d spoken to Conor.
“He was trying to say, ‘I don’t know how this happened. We’re going to get into this,’” Eubank Jr said of what Conor Benn told him. “I really didn’t know what to say, and then I learned about the second failed drug test, and I thought, ‘Wow, he lied.’
“I found out ten days before the battle. I had a whole camp. I don’t care what someone did behind closed doors. I worked too hard. ‘You can’t beat me’, that’s my mindset as a boxer. Is that wrong? Maybe it is.
“Most people will probably have one when they find out, ‘That’s it, that’s it.’ I’m not that kind of person. I don’t have that kind of spirit. It’s not up to the warriors to cancel combat. It’s up to the board, it’s up to the promoters and it’s up to the managers who control the sport.
“Do not leave the boxers alone because, as boxers, we just want to fight.
“I want to believe it,” Eubank Jr talked about the reason given for Benn’s two positive tests, about contamination. “The first time I heard about it, in my head I thought, ‘Okay, there must be some confusion here. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.’
“When you fail twice, that’s obviously what he did, it’s hard to believe anything without turning,’I’m sorry.’ Even so, even if he is found not guilty, he is still guilty in the eyes of the people and the public.
“That asterisk, that stain is always next to my name, always or on his own name. It doesn’t matter how much you pay your lawyers, defense team, and scientists. You have been caught cheating. That is the public opinion, and that will never change.
“I think so, I hope so,” Eubank Jr said when asked if he thought he would fight Benn again in the future. “Now we have our own story. Now we have our own reasons for wanting to fight. Now we have our own score to deal with,” Eubank Jr said of Conor.
