Benn’s bid to fight again on British soil suffers blow
COnOr BEnn’S route back to fighting on home soil may have been dealt a blow after UK Anti- Doping and the British Boxing Board of Control won an appeal against the verdict to lift his temporary suspension.
It is believed a decision was communicated last week by the national Anti-Doping Panel, who had cleared Benn to resume boxing in this country back in July. That was challenged by the Board of Control and UKAD, with both parties confirming in August that they were planning to contest the nADP ruling.
Mail Sport understands they have been successful in that protracted process, though it is currently unclear whether the outcome of the appeal could lead to Benn’s British-based suspension being reimposed.
Likewise, it remains to be seen if this 18-month saga, which follows our revelations in October 2022 that Benn had twice tested positive for the banned substance clomifene, could ultimately be heading for the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Both the Board of Control and UKAD declined to comment. representatives for Benn say no suspension has been ordered and he remains free to fight.
Benn, who has pointed towards accidental contamination for his positive tests, has fought twice in the US on foreign licences since those results came to light. However, he has not appeared in a British ring since April 2022 and having given up his British licence in the wake of the furore, has been engaged in heated debate with the Board ever since. The Board’s stance is that the 27-year- old should not be licensed to fight here until he has been cleared via a definitive explanation of how the clomifene entered his system.
Benn previously heralded the nADP ruling in July as a ‘vindication’ of his innocence, though sources around the time told Mail Sport that the hearing did not focus on an examination of the science. Part of the argument deployed by Benn’s legal team is believed to have nosed on the right of UKAD to rule on samples collected by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.