A rescheduled blockbuster fight between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr will finally happen if the former’s licence is reinstated by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC), believes promoter Ben Shalom.
Benn was under a provisional suspension after failing two voluntary drug tests ahead of a scheduled fight with Eubank Jr in October 2022, with that bout cancelled after he tested positive for banned substance clomifene.
On Wednesday, Benn moved a step closer to a return to boxing after the independent National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) lifted his suspension.
Sky Sports News has asked the BBBoC for comment, with the governing body yet to confirm whether it will reinstate Benn’s licence – required to allow him to fight in Britain again.
UK Anti-Doping also has not confirmed whether it will initiate its right to an appeal.
Should Benn ultimately be given the green light to fight in Britain again, Shalom is confident the long-awaited bout with Eubank Jr will ultimately go ahead.
“If he gets his licence then I believe that fight is on,” Shalom told Sky Sports.
“He needs a British licence and it’s one of the biggest fights in British boxing, if not the biggest to me.
“We know the history of that fight, we know why we’re here, we know why there’s so much animosity between them. Without the licence, the fight probably won’t happen.”
On the prospect of the fight taking place on home soil rather than Saudi Arabia, Shalom added: “For me, it sells out a stadium.
“It’s one of the biggest fights that you can do in the UK. So I think it will have to be significant for the fighters not to want to do it in the UK.
“I’m sure it’s a fight that will interest Riyadh season and his Excellency, just because there just aren’t many fights that come close to the magnitude of that one.”
‘I just think everything is going to be too much for him’ – what Eubank has said about Benn fight
The British fighters unexpectedly came face-to-face in an altercation in Saudi Arabia last month when Benn entered the ring after Eubank Jr had taken a stoppage win over Kamil Szeremeta.
Speaking days later, Eubank Jr said of Benn: “The kid is full of confidence but he has never been in there with an elite-level fighter, a technician, somebody who knows how to hurt him.
“It’s all well and good him saying what he can do but we are not going to know how tough, how great Conor Benn is until he is in there with somebody like me who can really test him.
“I think what I bring to the table is far too elite, far too superior in terms of my experience, skill, power, speed.
“I just think everything is going to be too much for him. He will tell you different but I think it is going to be a serious wake-up call for him.”
Eubank Jr’s father, Chris, beat and then drew with Benn’s dad Nigel during two blockbuster fights in the 1990s.
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