Sergio Mora wants Conor Benn to admit that he knowingly used PEDs to cheat for his previously scheduled fight against Chris Eubank Jr this Saturday. Mora says he wants Benn to apologize to the fans and ask for forgiveness from them for his testing positive for the banned substance clomifene.
Whether Benn will ask the fans for forgiveness and apologize would seem remote, given his statement in saying that he’s a “clean athlete.”
Mora feels that by Benn (21-0, 14 KOs) admitting that he intentionally used a performance-enhancing drug to boost his testosterone, the fans and the many people that lost money on the cancelation of the fight will feel better.
Benn tested positive on a VADA-conducted test. While his promoter Eddie Hearn maintains that he’s not suspended and hasn’t committed any violation, the fact that he came up positive for a banned substance resulted in the British Boxing Board of Control not to sanction the fight.
“The anticipated Chris Eubank Jr-Conor Benn fight is officially off. The promoters for the event announced the decision to postpone the show on Thursday, one day after it was revealed that Benn had tested positive for clomifene, a banned substance known to increase testosterone levels in men,” said Chris Mannix to DAZN Boxing on the Opening Bell. “Was calling off Benn-Eubank the right decision?”
“Absolutely, 100%. It was the moral thing to do because this is a sport where people can get hurt,” said Sergio Mora when asked if the Eubank Jr vs. Benn fight should have been called off. “You don’t use performance-enhancing drugs in a sport where you can die.
“You don’t use cheating tactics. It’s mono a mono. That’s what people respect about this sport. That’s why fans are impassioned by fighters. They do something that’s not human. They take a beating for half an hour, thirty-six minutes, and twelve rounds.
“They bleed everything, and then when you add chemicals to it and lies on top of lies. Then, in the end, when you get caught, you still don’t admit what you tried to do; not only does it p*** people off and upset fighters like myself that did it the clean way, but it upsets everyone that loves this sport.
“It’s a black eye for the sport, and it continues to have a black eye, and it keeps getting battered because people don’t learn.
“This is something that needs to get nipped in the bud, and the only way it’s going to change is if they ban a lifetime suspension for boxers like this.
“Maybe not the first time around, but the second time around, definitely. The first time around, they need to hit him where it hurts, and that’s the pocket.
“So many things can change, but it can’t just be swept under the rug and a slap on the wrist because that’s a slap on the face of the sport and every fan that loves it,” said Mora.
“What would you like to hear from Conor Benn over the next couple of days and weeks because clomiphene, while being a fertility drug for women, does not have any known medical applications for men,” said Mannix. “What do you want to hear from Conor Benn?”
“Either a phenomenal excuse where it can actually bring doubt, but how are you going to explain fertility in a system of a man?” said Mora. “That just doesn’t go hand in hand.
“I want an apology. I think every fan deserves an apology. So much money, tens of millions of dollars were lost. The O2 Arena was sold out for months in advance. The promoters, the managers, the networks, the fans, everyone loses here.
“A simple, ‘I’m sorry. I tried to do something I shouldn’t have done will go a long way if your Conor Benn. If you just try to be quiet about it and hope that it disappears, that’s the last thing you want to do, especially if this fight is going to get remade.
“All those bad thoughts and feelings are going to come back and haunt him when it does happen. A simple apology and an honest one at that,” said Mora.
“You mentioned the rescheduling, and when Eddie Hearn was announcing this fight was off was very specific and said this fight was going to be postponed,” said Mannix. “This certainly suggests that we will see this fight rescheduled in the future.
“Chris Eubank Jr seemed willing to go ahead with the fight, even in the aftermath of this positive test. Does it surprise you that Benn was willing to fight Benn regardless?” said Mannix.
“No, because we’re in this fight to make money. We’re in this fight to train hard, which he did. To have a hard camp and all the hard work is done. The blood, sweat & tears, the sparring, everything is done.
“The camp costs money. All the millions of dollars he was about to make after fighting was there. He’s not going to throw all that away just because he was popped for a banned substance. We’re going to fight through anything because we’re fighters.
“So I get Chris’s mentality for doing that, but it’s up to the dignity of the sport not to let it happen, and I’m glad that it didn’t,” said Mora.
“You’re right. It’s up to the British Boxing Board of Control, which did the right thing in saying they wouldn’t sanction this fight,” said Mannix. “I’m glad they didn’t try and go out of the box to try and find another organization, be it Luxembourg or Ireland, to try and push this fight ahead on Saturday.
“For Conor Benn, this is his first positive test. It’s not a death sentence for his career, but he is going to need to get past this. How does he get past this, both in the short term and the long term? How does he move forward with his career?”
“There is going to be sunshine at the end of this darkness because we’re all human, and we all mess up, but he has to admit guilt for one,” said Mora. “He has to pay a fine; he has to pay something.
“So many people lost money. I think he has to admit what he did and pay a fine, and then apologize to the fans, and then after that, he can come back and fight, and everything will be normal.
“If there’s no guilt and it’s just swept under the rug, it’s not going to work. It’s happened so many times. Not once did a PED cheat come out and say, ‘You know what? I tried to cheat, and I tried to get away with it. My bad, I got caught.’ Not one.
“He will actually be the first one to do it. I think if he can set that precedent, it would be someone admirable, but at least you can get some kind of respect back by manning up and saying, ‘Hey, I messed up. Forgive me,'” said Mora.
“I think in the short term and the long term, he has to become the most tested fighter in boxing,” said Mannix about Benn. “He has to enter year-round testing protocols like Nonito Donaire has been in for much of his career.
“He has to make sure he’s VADA tested before every single fight like Devin Haney is. He has got to make sure he is transparent as humanely possible about his drug testing.
“There will always be people that won’t believe Conor Benn. He will have lost a section of fans because of this. There’s no doubt about it. Some fans will always peg him as the guy that tested positive and tried to cheat.
“To try and win some of those fans back and the respect of boxers back, he’s going to have to be tested year-round, tested stringently, tested by multiple agencies, so there is no doubt in people’s minds that going into any fight it is, be it Chris Eubank Jr or something else in the future that they believe he is a clean athlete.”
“You have to guard your reputation at all costs because this is what you are as a man and as a fighter,” said Mora. “It’s all what you put on the table and let everyone see. Once that gets tainted, they don’t look at you the same,” said Mora.
