‘Too little, too late’: Chris Eubank Jr calls on Conor Benn to apologise to fans

Chris Eubank Jr. has taken aim at Conor Benn, declaring his claims of innocence as meaningless in the eyes of the public. 

Eubank Jr and Benn had been set to renew an old family feud stretching back decades when they were going to step into the ring in October for a much-anticipated bout. 

However, on the eve of the fight it was revealed by Sportsmail that Benn had twice tested positive for the banned substance clomifene in the build up to the fight. 

Chris Eubank Jr told Conor Benn to own what he did as the public perception is not going to change

Despite initial efforts that week for the fight to take place, it was cancelled in disgrace with Benn and his team promising to clear his name.

In a lengthy social media post last week, Benn claimed that his ‘team have proven my innocence and the truth will soon come out’. 

Responding to the post, having received an enormous amount of correspondence about Benn and whether or not the fight will take place, Eubank Jr. posted a video on Instagram calling out his boxing foe – essentially telling him to own what he did.

Conor Benn twice tested positive for the banned substance clomifene in the lead up to the bout

Eubank Jr said that it had been ‘too long’ since the fight was abandoned for him to now declare his innocence 

He urged his long-time foe to apologise to the public for his role in the fight being

‘At the end of the day, it’s been too long. After three months of radio silence, sorry, but nothing you can say or do is going to change the public opinion,’ he said on Instagram.

‘You got caught twice with illegal substances in your system and that’s it. It doesn’t matter how many lawyers and scientists and how many essay pages your people send to the boxing board showing that you’re innocent, or [claiming] contamination, or whatever it is you guys want to put forward.

‘It’s just not going to cut it. It’s too little, too late. If your team had proved your innocence, it would’ve been put out by now. People who are innocent do not go into hiding for three months.

‘An apology is all that you need to give to the fans. Not even to me, I’ll be OK. The people who bought tickets, travelled, paid money, and were let down – they deserve an apology. Not, “Oh, I’m going to prove my innocence after failing two drug tests.”‘

Eubank Jr. went on to claim that the only way he could prove his innocence – and seemingly clear his name in the eyes of the public – was by posting a video of himself being injected with ‘syringes’ by a group of ‘males’.   

Benn released a lengthy statement on Instagram last week in which he claimed his innocence had been proven

Benn released a lengthy statement on Instagram last week in which he claimed his innocence had been proven

‘The only possible way that you could prove your innocence is if there’s some video out there and you’re getting pinned down by multiple males getting jabbed in the a*** with some type of syringe, while your kicking and screaming and crying,’ he said.

‘That is the only thing that could get you out of this situation, get you off the hook, get people believing in you. Nothing else is going to cut it, you’re going to have to be the bad guy now.’

He added: ‘You’re going to have to accept being booed into the arena and being trolled on a daily basis. You’ve got to come to terms with and embrace it. You’re still going to make money and people are still gonna watch you fight.

‘You’re just not going to be ‘The Golden Child’ you was built up to be and that’s OK. Not everyone can be the good guy, I learnt that very early on in my career.

‘Will the fight happen at some point? It’s likely. A year, two years, 10 years from now. Eventually, we will fight, but the main thing is you own up, you man up and you do the right thing.’

Benn is currently subject to two side-by-side investigations: one by the UK’s Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD) and one by the WBC. The latter has no track record over such matters, though their verdict is imminent.