Hearn, and Benn’s camp, initially argued the fight should still go ahead and considered their legal options in a bid to overturn the BBBOC’s decision before confirming the fight would be cancelled. The 26-year-old also claimed he had spoken to Eubank Jr – who had to drop weight to make the catchweight for the clash – about the findings and that he was happy to proceed.
But the 33-year-old refuted the claims, telling Matchroom during his open workout that they had not spoken after the British Board of Boxing Control made the announcement. He said: “There was no phone call. No, we haven’t spoken. Absolutely, no phone call. We haven’t spoken since this has been announced,” before adding: “My promoters, his promoters, they’ll sort it out. I’m ready, I’m clean, I’m 60%, I’ve been tested my entire career. I’ve been tested more than I’ve ever been tested for a fight at this training camp.”
Hearn has reiterated that Benn is not suspended and technically eligible to fight, although resisted the temptation to ask a foreign boxing board to sanction a fight. However, speaking to iflTV, he hit back at claims that Eubank Jr was kept in the dark over the positive test and insisted the pair had actually spoken when Benn’s drug test result had come back positive.
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