Chris Eubank Jr slaps rival Conor Benn with an egg declaring he is a 'drug cheat'
Chris Eubank Jr slapped rival Conor Benn with an egg as their personal enmity boiled over in a press conference ahead of their highly-anticipated middleweight clash in April.
During a heated exchange in Manchester, Eubank had already made reference to two drugs tests Benn failed in 2022 due to what the World Boxing Council called a “highly-elevated consumption of eggs” - an offence for which he has since been cleared.
And as the fighters faced off on stage, Eubank pulled an egg from his pocket and smashed it against Benn’s face, sparking a brawl as Eddie Hearn and Benn’s father Nigel tried to get at Eubank and his team.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Eubank and Benn will fight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 26, but had originally been due to face off in October 2022 before Benn’s failed tests forced the fight to be called off.
“Conor, I have been meaning to ask you how many eggs you had to eat to fail those drugs tests,” Eubank said during the press conference.
“All you and Eddie (Hearn) say is, ‘We are cleared’, but you don’t say how. I am not an academic, but I know one thing - you are a drug cheat.”
Benn originally tested positive for the female fertility drug clomifene.
The 28-year-old, who has a 23-0 record, was cleared to fight in the UK in November last year after the UK Anti-Doping Agency announced it would not appeal against a decision from the National Anti-Doping Panel to lift his ban, with the British Boxing Board of Control also declining to appeal.
It remains a sore point for Benn and before the main press conference he was involved in an angry exchange with a journalist when asked if he was going to use a foreign licence for the fight.
“If somebody starts asking me trick questions, I’ll throw you out of the room,” Benn said.
“I’ll drag you by the neck outside and put you outside.”
It all added to the bad blood between the two fighters, whose fathers Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn twice fought each other during the 1990s and whose rivalry has grown to something that the latter said was “very personal”.
