Eddie Hearn claims that Conor Benn will emerge even stronger from the doping scandal

• Boxing

Eddie Hearn has stressed that Conor Benn has received the necessary clearance to fight this Saturday night. He added that Benn received the appeal sent by the British Boxing Board of Control and that now nothing prevents him from performing on Saturday.

“Robert Smith says he believes Conor Benn hasn’t cleared his name,” Hearn told IFL TV for a video posted to its YouTube channel. “What they should’ve asked him is, is Conor Benn cleared to box, because the answer is yes.

And that’s the reason that he’s fighting this weekend. You know, [Smith] said that he’s spoken to the commissions. If he wasn’t cleared to box, Robert Smith would’ve said to the commissions, ‘No, he’s not cleared to box.

He’s suspended.’ We know he’s not [suspended] because he won his case against the [BBBocC] and against UKAD”.

“Conor Benn has two choices, all right?,” Hearn said. “Having won the case in July and having won the case, and having his suspension lifted and having been cleared, he has the choice to fight or to wait for a potential appeal, which we know, through all the slow playing previously, could be kicked into next year.

He hasn’t boxed for 18 months. What he’s spent in terms of scientific reports, in terms of legal costs, you know, the man needs to go back to work”.

26-year-old Benn faced a great ordeal, but in the end he came out as the loser in this doping saga.

We, like the entire boxing public, are satisfied with this outcome and that the fight will take place. It has certainly been announced for a long time, and usually such fights are brutal, just the way fans like them. Benn had a little more time to prepare but whether it would be an advantage and lead him to victory.

“Conor has produced this scientific evidence in the past,” Hearn said. “It’s not like he’s never, he just kept it under his bed or something. But when that’s asked to be produced, he has produced it every time.

If you go and read Matt Lawton’s piece in the The Times, you’ll see a very, very in-depth article about one of the reasons why we believe Conor Benn is innocent. “So, it’s not like, ‘Oh, we’re not telling you.’ But when you go into a trial, like he did with UKAD, he’s done everything he was asked to do and he won.

So, like, what Robert Smith, what they should’ve [asked] in that interview is, ‘Is he cleared to box?’ And under their rules, if you’re not suspended, if you’re not fined … you are cleared to box”. as quoted by BoxingScene.