Boxing’s credibility left on the canvas as Conor Benn vs Chris Eubank Jr postponement caps nightmare week

To say this week has been bad for boxing is like saying this season has been quite good so far for Erling Haaland.

In just one day it was hit with a three-punch combination so damaging that its credibility is, once again, trying to pick itself up off the canvas.

We start with Conor Benn’s failed drugs test ahead of his much-anticipated fight this weekend against Chris Eubank Jr.

Benn, who I have followed throughout his career and have a huge amount of affection for, tested positive for trace amounts of clomifene, used almost exclusively to help with female fertility problems. It also modestly increases testosterone which helps to enhance muscle and reduce fat.

The adverse finding came from VADA, the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency. The clue is in the title. Boxers sign up to it, agreeing to random testing. Benn failed this test, it seems, last month, yet it has only come to light at the eleventh hour.

He said: ‘Throughout my whole career I’ve never had any issues before. I’m a clean athlete and we’ll get to the bottom of this.’

Now, I am not here to rain fire and brimstone down on Benn, nor am I here to make excuses for him. He has every right to contest the result, to due process and to make his case, but at the same time he has failed a drugs test, and that is of grave significance. And that’s why, no matter what is said in the washing machine of drama that has unfolded, there is no way the fight could have gone ahead. It’s not rocket science. It’s a simple matter of integrity.

What is the point in signing up for drug testing if when you fail everybody just goes ‘oh don’t worry about it, just let him fight’? The argument of, well, it’s alright with UKAD is totally irrelevant. You have signed up for drug testing with VADA, the