Eddie Hearn has questioned a drug test result by Artur Beterbiev ahead of a 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 satisfactory evidence after two failed drug tests, spoke out on Beterbiev to ‘ironic’ responses.
Artur Beterbiev’s drug test result
“There was an article released yesterday by Kevin Iole. Obviously, in conjunction with Top Rank, there was an atypical finding in Artur Beterbiev’s VADA test in December. There were raised levels of HGH and testosterone,” Heard told Fight Hub TV.
“It’s not an adverse finding. It’s an atypical finding. But it still raised levels which, as a promoter of a fighter in the other corner, is a concern. So, we’ve been working with VADA to try to understand the reasons why.”
Beterbiev’s test isn’t a fail. However, the overproduction of substances occurs naturally in the body during training, as Snac’s Victor Conte explained.
Eddie Hearn and the irony
“Eddie Hearn, has there been an “atypical finding” for a Matchroom boxer in the past? Some causes of brief spikes in HGH and testosterone include sprint training & heavy squats. The December 3 sample was negative, December 6 “atypical” and then more negatives with VADA Testing.
“Since you have had these Bererbiev “atypical” results for weeks, why are you going public now. These are not “positive” test results. Atypical test results are not usually made public. Are you simply showboating?”
In addition, Hearn said: “It’s all out there for you to do your research. They’ll want us to be careful of what we say.”
“There has been additional testing since, but not additional around those results, just the standard testing that follows. So, in this one test, there’s a spike in these substances.
“In tests the week after, there wasn’t. What we want to know is – and we’re not scientists – we want to know why those levels were raised, and the questions we’ve asked VADA we will continue to ask.”
On 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 blood and urine of raised levels of HGH and testosterone.”
How those initial findings were made public and who Iole’s source was another hot topic on social media. However, it’s 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.
