Conor Benn will be returned to the WBC’s rankings after the governing body ruled today that it was plausible that his two positive tests for the banned substance clomifene were a result of his ingestion of eggs.
As a result, the WBC believes the 26-year-old Benn non-intentionally ingested clomifene, and they will now return him to their top 15 rankings at welterweight.
Despite being cleared by the WBC, the Matchroom Boxing-promoted Benn is still under investigation by the BBBofC [British Boxing Board of Control and UKAD, and he must be cleared by both for him to be licensed to fight and permitted to fight in the UK.
That said, Benn can still fight out of the country and have his fights sold on pay-per-view in the UK. It would seem likely that’s the direction Benn will go if he’s not cleared soon by UKAD and the BBCofC or if he is given a stiff drug ban of one or more years.
Benn will likely fight in a location outside of the UK soon, but probably not in Saudi Arabia. It’s difficult to imagine the Saudis wanting to get involved in staging Benn’s next fight with his ongoing investigation for his positive clomifene tests still unresolved with UKAD & the BBBofC.
British fans will still be highly interested in paying to watch Benn fight the likes of Chris Eubank Jr, Liam Smith, or Manny Pacquiao. Those fighters have been mentioned recently as viable options for Benn when he returns to the ring.
There’s money to be made for Benn, and he likely won’t lose out as long as he returns to the ring soon while there’s still interest in him from the UK fans.
It’s unlikely that the welterweight stars, Errol Spence Jr or Terence Crawford, would be interested in fighting Benn, and it wouldn’t be fair to him to fight those champions because he doesn’t possess the experience to have a realistic chance of beating either.
WBC’s rulings:
“The WBC found that: (1) there was no conclusive evidence that Mr. Benn engaged in intentional or knowing ingestion of Clomiphene; (2) there were no failures in the procedures related to sample collection, sample analysis, or violations of Mr. Benn’s B Sample rights that would justify questioning or invalidating the Adverse Finding; and (3) Mr. Benn’s documented and highly-elevated consumption of eggs during the times relevant to the sample collection, raised a reasonable explanation for the Adverse Finding.”
Before the news of Benn’s two positive tests for clomifene was leaked, he had been scheduled to fight Eubank Jr in a catchweight fight on October 8th on PPV.
Eubank Jr says he’s still interested in fighting Benn, even after his positive tests, but he says the catchweight is no longer on the table.