Conor Benn admits he felt suicidal after his positive drugs tests caused his fight with Chris Eubank Jr to be cancelled in October - and explained why he won't show the British Boxing Board of Control his 270-page dossier that would allegedly prove his innocence.
Former two-weight world champion Benn said in an interview on TalkTV show Piers Morgan Uncensored that “I didn’t think I’d see another day”.
Benn’s much-hyped showdown with Eubank was called off just three days before it was due to take place after the former admitted to failing drugs tests in July and September.
Benn, who has since been cleared of an intentional doping offence by the World Boxing Council, was asked by Morgan if he had felt suicidal and he replied: “Yeah, I’d say so, yeah and it upsets me now because I don’t know how I got so bad. I got in a really bad way.”
The 26-year-old said: “I struggled. There was probably about two months where… I was in a really bad way.”
"I was in a bad way, I was sobbing most nights."
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) March 6, 2023
Conor Benn tells Piers Morgan his failed drugs test affected his mental health so badly he questioned his faith.
@ConorNigel | @piersmorgan | @TalkTV | #PMU pic.twitter.com/wXQ4ubYKLL
When asked if he had spoken to his father, former world champion Nigel Benn, about his emotional state, Benn added: “I did, but my dad was in a bad way as well.
“Over this, yeah. I was in a bad way. I was sobbing most nights. I didn’t want to go to sleep because I knew I had to wake up to… You’ve got to remember this was a nightmare for me. How has this happened? How have I got into this situation?”
Last month, the WBC ruled a “highly elevated consumption of eggs” was considered a “reasonable explanation” for Benn’s adverse finding.
Benn also spoke about the abuse he has received on social media since the Eubank fight was called off, adding: “There’s been too many. ‘Kill yourself’, racist comments to my son, to my family.
“Nothing in person, it’s cowardly. I don’t think it’s social media that bothers me, it was more so the shame I felt leaving the house, although I’d done nothing wrong.
“I was having night terrors, panic attacks. I don’t throw these words (around). Mental health, I was really struggling. I was in a really bad way and I was coping terribly with it. I was coping really bad with it.”
Benn to sue BBBofC
Benn will be suing the BBBofC for 'full loss of earnings' and 'damage to reputation' over their handling of the situation
The 26-year-old twice registered positive for the banned substance clomifene in VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Association) drugs tests last year, which led the BBBofC to prohibit his planned bout with Eubank Jr from taking place.
Benn was removed from the WBC rankings but then provided the sanctioning body with a 270 page dossier, which would allegedly prove his innocence. He was subsequently restored to the rankings, as the WBC stated ‘there was no conclusive evidence that Mr. Benn engaged in intentional or knowing ingestion of Clomiphene.’
However, he has not provided the same document to the BBBoC and voluntarily gave up his license with the UK’s governing boxing body.
"Listen - you sound like you have a welter of information but I cannot for the life of me understand why you wouldn't give it to the governing body."
— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@PiersUncensored) March 6, 2023
Piers Morgan asks Conor Benn why he won't clear his name.
@piersmorgan | @ConorNigel | @TalkTV | #PMU pic.twitter.com/jjrKgdMEhE
Pressed on why, Benn replied: "My dad tore up his British boxing licence in the 80s. You know the board isn’t going to stop me from fighting. They can’t stop me from fighting.”
After being reminded they could stop him fighting in the UK, he said: “In this country. And that’s fine, so be it.
“They filed seven misconduct charges against me. One of them was because we wanted the fight to go ahead. The second one was because we didn’t tell Eubank immediately. On the Monday they said, ‘we’re upholding all charges’. I thought ‘you lot can do one. You think I’m going to sit here and take this’.
Conor Benn saying he will not release the dossier proving his innocence is the most baffling aspect of this whole interview with Piers. pic.twitter.com/mxS3puOfi0
— Michael Morgan (@mikewhoatv) March 7, 2023
“I don’t have to be licenced by the board, that’s my views on it. But, I don’t plan on fighting in Britain anytime soon.
“It’s down to my legal team what they want to do. As far as I’m concerned, it feels like a witch-hunt from the board, the way they’ve, you know, misconduct charges.”
When asked why he doesn't publish it to the internet for the public to see, Benn he explained that the ongoing legal case meant that he could not.
Morgan told Benn he thought the only way he can properly clear his name is by allowing the BBBoC to conduct a proper investigation with the help of the 270-page dossier. But he replied: “I do not think it will, but you are saying it will. I think the damage has already been done.
“I just do not know why it is they’ve got it in for me.
"I don’t know what it is they’ve got in for. I don’t know what their vendetta it is?”
