Conor Benn has been provisionally suspended him from fighting by The UK Anti-Doping Agency after he twice tested positive for female fertility drug clomiphene ahead of a proposed fight against Chris Eubank Jr
Conor Benn is set to present evidence to UKAD and The BBBofC after being assisted by scientists and doctors in his battle against a drugs ban.
The UK Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD) has formally charged Benn and provisionally suspended him from fighting after he twice tested positive for female fertility drug clomiphene ahead of last October’s proposed catchweight bout against Chris Eubank Jr.
The 26-year-old welterweight has vowed to prove his innocence and The Times is reporting Benn has a team of new advisers, including leading executive coach Rene Carayol MBE, are set to deliver their findings to UKAD and The British Boxing Board of Control.
Carayol has been working with Dr Mohammed Enayat, an expert in functional and personalised medicine, who has carried out a range of tests on Benn.
The Times has reported an expert in anti-doping and a professor with specialist knowledge of clomiphene have reviewed Enayat’s results ‘in tandem with the data from Benn’s positive VADA tests’.
They have claimed Benn’s urine sample contained clomiphene metabolites consistent with food contamination rather than the oral ingestion of the actual drug.
“Without a question of doubt we’ve proved it’s contamination, 100 per cent,” Enayat told The Times.
Dr Serkan Kahyaoglu, an associate professor at the University of Health Sciences, suggested Benn’s positive test “was a natural result of consumption of clomiphene-containing eggs”, insisting they can be detected four months after ingestion.
“It would be unfair to blame Conor Benn due to his positive doping test result for clomiphene,” said Kahyaoglu.
Benn returned to the World Boxing Council’s rankings after the governing body concluded that his “highly-elevated consumption of eggs” was a “reasonable explanation” for his failed test.
The unbeaten contender welcomed the news of his reinstatement on his Instagram at the time while hinting he disagreed with part of the sanctioning body’s statement.
Benn voiced his frustration with the WBC’s ruling, claiming “the manner in which I’ve been cleared has seemed to create further questions and add further fuel to baseless negative speculation”.
He has been absent from the ring since a stoppage win over Chris van Heerden in April 2022.
Sky Sports News has contacted UKAD for a response to the article in The Times.