Who Ate All The Eggs?
Eggs, Frozen Fighters & McGregor vs Aspinall?
Good evening all and welcome back to The Combat Club!
On Monday, we had a little discussion about the WBC and their failings.
Well, they have gone and done it again.
According to the wonderful, trustworthy people over at the WBC, Conor Benn is now cleared of any wrongdoing despite failing a drugs test before the scheduled fight with Chris Eubank Jr last October.
According to the ‘investigation’ they found no conclusive evidence to suggest that Benn ingested clomifene knowingly or intentionally.
So how did a banned substance get into the body of Conor Benn you ask?
According to the WBC…
Conor Benn absolutely loves eggs.
“Mr Benn’s documented and highly-elevated consumption of eggs during the times relevant to the sample collection, raised a reasonable explanation for the Adverse Finding”
Yes, that is right.
The only thing that Conor Benn did wrong here is eat too many eggs.
Rocky jokes aside.
I have had less than a hour to process this information, so I can’t really give an informed breakdown of why/how this has happened but after reading the full statement (WBC Statement), I am absolutely baffled.
Look, I can’t say whether Conor Benn is guilty or not, I am sure he is convinced he isn’t and he seems to have some sort of reasoning to back his opinion.
However, you cannot blame eggs. I’m sorry.
Luckily, we can all digest the information presented and make our own judgement.
Here’s mine.
Elite athletes have access to EVERYTHING.
They have trainers, nutritionists, experts and everything in between tracking them constantly.
Food, rest, supplements, sleep.
Nothing is left to chance.
You cannot and will not convince me that a prohibited substance got into the system of a world class athlete because he ate some eggs.
What now?
Conor Benn will be back in action very soon.
He still has an ongoing case with the British Boxing Board of Control which means he can’t compete with a British boxing licence but that won’t matter.
Eddie Hearn has a growing relationship with the Abu Dhabi and he will be putting on a card there in the next few months
Benn will headline it.
The rumours are Manny Pacquiao as an opponent. Surely not.
But, whoever is in the opposite corner, the fact remains Conor Benn failed a drug test and will be back in a ring like nothing happened.
We wonder why boxing has a PED problem?
This thing is going to play out over the coming weeks & months and once I have been able to read everything and understand more, we can make a full conclusion but for now it looks like yet another example of boxing making a mockery of itself.
Still harbour dreams of becoming a world title contender?
Get down the Aldi for a 12 pack of free range eggs!
10 QUESTIONS WITH BLACK THUNDER.
In our new feature, rising light middleweight contender Caoimhin Agyarko joined The Combat Club to answer our ‘10 questions’.
Best fighter you have ever sparred?
CA: Billy Joe Saunders
Favourite ever fight?
CA: Arturo Gatti vs Micky Ward
Favourite meal after a fight?
CA: Nandos or an Italian.
Who do you think is the most underrated fighter in the world?
CA: Sunny Edwards
What would you be if you weren’t a professional boxer?
CA: Probably a plumber or working in a gym.
Favourite sport outside of boxing?
CA: Football
What do you think is your best performance?
CA: My win against Jez Smith
Fighter to keep an eye on from your gym?
CA: Frankie Stringer
Favourite walk out tune that isn’t your own?
CA: All of the lights - Kanye West
Finally, who wins, Fury or Usyk?
CA: Oleksandr Usyk.
News Round Up
Elsewhere in the world of combat sports, we have had rematches fall through, Conor McGregor arguing with heavyweight contenders on Twitter, Jake Paul ramping up his feud with Tommy Fury and one of the worst performances of all time on a UFC Card.
Earlier this week, UFC heavyweight contender Tom Aspinall released an interview saying he ‘wasn’t that bothered’ about the return of Conor McGregor.
A pretty tame statement but he was immediately met by a tirade of now deleted tweets from the former double champ threatening to ‘starve him’, ‘kill him’ and referring to him as ‘mush head rat’.
I mean, I am struggling to see what Aspinall said wrong but I think we are all getting used to these outbursts from Conor and they are pretty amusing.
Although, I think he could probably pick easier fights than Tom Aspinall!
Never change, Conor!
Frozen Fighter
Staying with the UFC, on Saturday evening light heavyweight William Knight put in one of the most bizarre performances of all time.
With a record of 3-4 in the UFC, Knight is far from a contender but he was a valuable member of the division and has put in some respectable performances over the years.
However, these three rounds against Marcin Prachino were bizarre.
He landed just eight strikes in the entire 15 minutes and they were all reactionary. He offered no offence whatsoever.
Watching the fight live, it looked very, very suspect but according to Knight on social media, he simply froze.
He was immediately cut from the UFC and as you will see below, he has received abuse on social media which is out of order but it’s a time for reflection from William Knight because he looked like a fighter who didn’t want to be there.
Jake Paul is…mean?
Disney star turned fighter Jake Paul has doubled down this week in order to push the PPV sales and he released the below video to show us just how serious he is about his fight with Tommy Fury.
I don’t know what you have taken from that but for me, I can’t look past Jake referring to himself as a mean, angry person.
Reminiscent of a prime Mike Tyson press conference…
Anyway, the fight happens this Sunday and I will share my thoughts on Friday as there are some interesting odds knocking about for the fight.
I am interested in the readers thoughts though, who wins?
The one that got away
We also received the news this week that Josh Taylor is choosing to pursue a fight with Teofimo Lopez instead of a rematch with Jack Catterall.
Every British fight fan is disappointed with this one but the second fight is starting to feel like the fight that got away.
I believe the performance will always eat away at Taylor but his argument is the fight with Lopez is bigger and more lucrative.
Hard to argue with that.
Lopez is a big star, he brings eyes and he has looked beatable in recent outings.
Both fights are good but as a British fight fan, the fight with Catterall is the one I want to see but I now have my doubts as to whether it will ever happen.
Over & Out
Once again, would just like to thank every person following, subscribing and sharing The Combat Club.
This is growing every day, quicker than I thought it would and the feedback has been amazing.
We are just getting started and I can’t wait to show you all some of the things we have got planned.
Catch you all on Friday!