Chris Eubank Jr insists he is ‘100 PER CENT sure’ Conor Benn is a cheat as he takes a swipe at his rival for ‘playing the victim’ in interview with Piers Morgan… before the welterweight star hits back by accusing him of ‘trying to blackmail me for £1m’
- Benn’s mega-fight with Eubank Jr collapsed at the 11th hour back in October
- Sportsmail broke the news that he had failed a drug test heading into the bout
- Eubank’s team declined to comment when quizzed on Benn’s blackmail claim
Chris Eubank Jr says he is now ‘100 per cent sure’ that Conor Benn knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs after watching his interview with Piers Morgan, accusing his rival of ‘playing the victim’ during the discussion.
Benn saw his proposed mega-fight with Eubank Jr scrapped at the 11th-hour back in October when Sportsmail broke the news that he had failed a drugs tests in the lead-up to the bout.
It then came to light that the 26-year-old, who tested positive for the banned substance clomifene, had failed another test prior to the one that his brought his big night at The O2 crashing down.
Over the past five months he has maintained his innocence, and last month Benn was readmitted to the WBC’s world rankings after the sanctioning body concluded there is enough evidence suggesting his positive result may have been caused by to consumption of a large number of eggs.
However, it is understood that UK Anti-Doping and the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) are still investigating the matter, meaning he remains unable to fight on these shores.
Chris Eubank Jr (L) says he is now ‘100 per cent sure’ that Conor Benn (R) is a ‘cheat’
Benn, who saw his proposed mega-fight with Eubank collapse at the 11th hour when he failed a drugs test in October, appeared on Piers Morgan’s TalkTV show to discuss his position
The 26-year-old maintains his innocence and revealed he has felt suicidal during the fall-out
But Eubank has no sympathy for his rival, taking aim at him for ‘playing the victim’ before being accused of blackmail by Benn
Benn brushed off the BBBoC’s probing during his appearance on Morgan’s TalkTV show this week, insisting he is prepared to fight on foreign soil pending the outcome of their investigation, while also admitting that he has felt suicidal during the fall-out from his failed tests.
Yet after watching the interview, Eubank has no sympathy and is instead fully convinced his rival is a drugs cheat.
He posted on Twitter: ‘I was 99% sure @ConorNigel was a cheat but after watching that interview with @piersmorgan now I’m 100% sure.
‘Imagine failing TWO drugs tests & then trying to play the victim!? The balls on this kid!! Or should I say… the eggs on him’.
Eubank’s tweet sparked an immediate response from Benn, who hit back at the 33-year-old by accusing him of blackmail.
He replied: ‘You’re Sat there trying to play the victim but tried blackmailing me for 1m pound. You s**t house.’
Eubank’s team declined the chance to comment on the blackmail allegation when approached by Sportsmail.
Benn claims his legal team obtain a 270-page dossier which proves his innocence, but he is not prepared to hand it over to the BBBoC out of ‘pride’ after being charged for misconduct by the governing body.
When Morgan expressed his confusion at the reluctance to provide them with the evidence, Benn said: ‘I couldn’t care less (about giving the document). That’s down to my legal team.
Eubank says he is fully convinced Benn knowingly took clomifene prior to their proposed bout
Benn insists he is not prepared to hand over evidence proving his innocence to the BBBoC
Benn was then asked what would stop him from sending it, to which he replied: ‘My pride. The way they’ve dealt with this. I don’t have to be licenced by the board. I don’t plan to fight in Britain any time soon.’
Benn’s father Nigel also made an appearance on the show and stressed that he would ‘hang him out to dry’ if his son knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs.
‘To me it looks like this is a witch hunt. We’re going back to the 1800s. “She is a witch, she is a witch, burn her’ and everyone’s, “Yeah burn her” – hold on a minute, that is my son.
‘If I ever thought my son was guilty of anything I would say, ‘Son I love you, but you know what you have got to deal with this’. I’d hang him out to dry and but I am actually in this training camp with him I was training with him.’
