Eddie Hearn has questioned the result of a drugs test carried out by Artur Beterbiev ahead of his world title defense against Matchroom’s Callum Smith.
The promoter, who has been embroiled in controversy surrounding Conor Benn’s failure to provide the British Boxing Board of Control with satisfactory evidence following two failed drug tests, spoke out about Beterbiev to “ironic” responses.
The result of Artur Beterbiev’s drug test
“There was an article published yesterday by Kevin Iole. Obviously, together with Top Rank, in December there was an atypical result in Artur Beterbiev’s VADA test. There were elevated levels of HGH and testosterone,” Heard told Fight Hub TV.
“It is not an adverse finding. It is an atypical finding. But he still raised levels, which, as a promoter of a fighter in the other corner, is a cause for concern. “So we have been working with VADA to try to understand the reasons.”
The Beterbiev test is not a failure. However, the overproduction of substances occurs naturally in the body during training, as Victor Conte from Snac explains.
Eddie Hearn and irony
“Eddie Hearn, have there been any “outlier finds” for a Matchroom boxer in the past? Some causes of brief spikes in HGH and testosterone include speed training and heavy squats. The sample from December 3 was negative, the one from December 6 “atypical” and then more negative with VADA Testing.
“If you have had these “atypical” results from Bererbiev for weeks, why are you making them public now? These are not “positive” test results. Atypical test results are not usually made public. Are you just showing off?
Furthermore, Hearn said: “Everything is available for you to investigate. “They will want us to be careful what we say.”
“There has been additional testing since then, but not additional testing around those results, just the standard testing that follows. So in this test, there is an increase in these substances.
“In the tests the following week, there was none. What we want to know is (and we are not scientists) we want to know why those levels were raised, and the questions we have asked VADA we will continue to ask.”
As for what Hearn plans to do about it, he concluded: “Contractually, we can’t do anything about it because it was not an adverse finding, but it was an atypical result of elevated levels of HGH and testosterone in blood and urine.”
How those initial findings became public and who Iole’s source was was another hot topic on social media. However, it is all academic, as Beterbiev has done nothing wrong, according to the rules.
The three-belt champion is cleared to fight and plans to punish Smith and his promoter on Saturday night.
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