British boxer Conor Benn will return to the World Boxing Council welterweight rankings after an investigation determined that his consumption of eggs could have potentially been the reason for his failed drug test last summer, the WBC announced this week.
“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,” read the WBC ruling published on Feb. 22.
Benn was set to take on Chris Eubank Jr, in October, but their fight was cancelled after Benn’s test result in August appeared suspicious to the British Boxing Board of Control. That was going to be an interesting fight as their fathers, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank, were known rivals during their time as active boxers.
Benn’s original test sample “yielded an adverse analytical finding for Clomiphene and its hydroxymetabolites MI and M2.” Clomiphene and its metabolites are banned substances at all times under the WBC Clean Boxing Program because they increase testosterone production and boost testosterone levels.
Members of the WBC Results Management Unit held an inquiry session with Benn and members of his legal team on Jan. 26. The boxer maintained his innocence the whole time.
“We have never cut corners or cheated the grind in any way,” Benn wrote in a statement in December. “… It’s been really hard for me to accept that people think that I would do what I was accused of.”
The WBC talked to an expert nutritionist for the investigation, and the nutritional committee will work with Benn’s team in the future to design a nutrition program that will help avoid future adverse findings, the ruling read. The eggs Benn said he consumed could’ve been contaminated, so the council said they will also “establish a line of communication with WADA regarding the WBC’s concern about Clomiphene as a food contaminant and the potential of false positives caused by ingestion of contaminated food.”
This wouldn’t be the first incident of contaminated food in boxing. In 2018, Canelo Alvarez had two positive tests results for clenbuterol after eating contaminated meat.
