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A message from the government of Canada. Episode 146.5, I'm not dedicating a whole episode number to this fucking fast. What's going on? What's going on?
Episode 147 is the welterweight podcast. I have to think of some quirky stats around welterweights. But anyway, fuck what day? We're recording on Wednesday, the 5th of October.
It's been a mental day in boxing and in boxing Twitter. Paul, Mr. Zanon, how was your day, mate? Yeah, great, great.
Obviously, the break in use day. So I'll tell you how it emerged, how I got to know. So I was driving down to a prison in Swindon, H&P, with Charlie Duffield, like heavyweight boxer. And we're going to put a boxing session on for the FU inmates.
So about half our food journey is like about an hour and 20 journey. We're just going past Stonehenge and I call up Luke Kerozi, our old friend. And just have a little check chat because about the other fight, the weekend, then you van Joonja. And I'll let you about 15, 20 minutes into it.
Luke Kerozi says, no way. No way. We're no way what? And he's like, he said, breaking news.
He said, Connebene, he said, it's about a drug test. So we're like, ooh, we don't want to lose moments. So anyway, obviously, you know, we're all catching up on the social media at this point. But yeah, that was how I found out today.
And since then, it's been rather interesting, medley of PR. There's been an interesting medley of responses from everyone involved in the fight. And everything from the promoters through to the British Box and Border Control. And every man in his dog basically.
Yeah, it's been a it's been a wild day. I was in the office today. And yeah, I was just kind of sat there on my phone. And it popped into our Sean Brown.
He's been on the pop before. People will remember him put this daily man article into the old boxing monthly WhatsApp group. And the boxing monthly WhatsApp group, it's a bit dormant. Not a lot goes on, really.
It's pretty quiet. But the last couple of days, it's been a bit lively. It's it's started with me kind of winding up Sean a bit. Because Sean Sean is a glass weagen that liked Liverpool and Rangers played Liverpool last night.
So I was like, Oh, Sean, who do you want to win? Who do you want to win? He went in Rangers to win. Rangers is very much his team.
He went in Rangers to win. So yeah, that was kind of going on last night. And then that's got posted in this morning and then it is just kicked off. So yeah, for those of you that perhaps have been living living under a rock for the last eight hours or 24 hours, whenever it is, you're listening to this.
Yeah, Connebene has tested positive for for for a band substance. It was a Vada, a Vada test and the substances who's called Chlamifine and it's like a it's it's a hormone and it's it's banned because it helps increase testosterone. It can almost double testosterone, which is why it's banned. It's also a female kind of it's like a it's like a female kind of it's a way to balance their hormones, I think, some sort of anyway, doesn't matter.
It's a fucking bad substance. And it's yeah, it's a man. It's like it's yeah, a parent of a man takes it will increase the testosterone in a man. Other theories banded out there at the moment, other that it can also disguise steroids and give it another couple of days.
And the Chinese whispers will tell you that if you take his drug, it will make you as rich as Elon Musk, give it a sex appeal of Rood off Valentina, make school goals, like Ninel Messi. So I think we'll start taking all these things and sort of pinch the salt. But fundamentally, I bet Connebene had been found guilty of being there with a bomb in his hand with I don't know, sort of doing a hot smoking episode with Mike Tyson, the found guilty of marijuana in his system or maybe something a little bit tougher than a female sort of drug. How the fuck did it get in your system?
That's the big question there. You know what I mean? It's like, it's not like, you know, you're just an action to suddenly slip in your mouth and you're swatted it. It's a bit different.
I'm just trying to work out. I'm all ears, noise to no theories and the reality behind this, whatever surface probably not. But yeah, that's an interesting one. Yeah, that's the thing that seems to have got lost amongst this whole thing.
It's everyone seems to be thinking about Saturday and we'll the fight, go ahead. Won't the fight go ahead? But nobody seems to be asking the question, how the fuck did that get into your body? How did that band substance that is on the wireless as a band substance?
Because of the testosterone and what it does to men's testosterone levels, how did that get into your body? So that was around 11, 11, 11 a.m. By 12, we had a statement from both promoters saying that the fight would go ahead, that since then he failed a varder test, but then afterwards has passed a UCAD test, which is the British anti-doping organisation. So they were happy for both camps or happy for the fight to go ahead.
By the afternoon, it was around 1 p.m. The British boxing board of control who were sanctioning the fight and were putting the fight on and putting the whole card on, by the way, have come out and said this fight is not prohibited. That we basically, what they're saying, they use the word prohibited. They can't say, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the way I'm reading this, Paul, is they can't say the fights off.
What they're saying is we won't sanction this. So they're saying we're not going to sanction this fight. This fight can't take place under our sanctioning, under our auspices. And so that's that really.
And since then, you know, kind of Eddie Hearns has been playing all sorts of kind of mental gymnastics, kind of just kind of justify what's been going on. And there's rumours about Luxembourg perhaps sanctioning it or there's Bieber, who are the other kind of sanctioning body which don't really put on many cards. What's your whole thoughts about this whole thing, Paul? Yeah.
So British boxing board of control have got to show a sort of diligence here. They've been stung in the past with various cases of injuries and a Michael Watson case pretty much set them bust. And so when it comes to, I mean, that was obviously something different. I was to do sort of a, I guess, medical procedures back in the day, but ultimately they're looking at the safety of a boxer.
And if someone, and again, it's the unknown quantity here, as firstly, how much it is, shows in his system. Secondly, depending on the amount that's in there, multiply the amount of testosterone that was in his blood, what effects could that potentially have had on him in the evening? So positively, from his perspective, maybe made him more aggressive, given more stay in power in terms of his stamina, or maybe it was going to give an amazing finish. And he'd have to sort of smash you back during your three or four rounds to get out of there.
Otherwise, there'd be an inverted effect on the drug. Who knows? It's, you know, these sort of reports need to come out in more detail. If they're aware of this drug, then I think that something should be banded around by the experts, you know, in a vertical, a z, a divada, and the wilders, and whatever.
Say, OK, this drug itself, I let's because it does X, Y and Z in this quantity. And then afterwards, if we found out that his quantity was less or more than we can kind of relatively work that out based on whatever sort of study that I've done previously, the whole thing of the sanctioning bodies outside of the British box of border control, Luxembourg coming in. Well, it was 72 hours ago, Luxembourg is only going to jump in and do what? Sanction one fight and arrested it to be sanctioned by the British box in border control.
That's strange. OK, can two sanctioning bodies even coexist on the same night? I mean, I'm guessing that medical procedures, health and safety, et cetera, would differ somewhat. And yeah, you know, their fame's are having them basically taken on the Chizora David Hayfire back in 2012, where many didn't want to sort of stir it near it.
But it was a good fight. There was no sort of drugs involved in that. That was more to do with the altercation of the pair previously, and sort of, you know, the bad blood and how it might turn into a bit of a punch fest outside of the ring as well. But it went ahead.
Now, this time rounds, we're looking at drugs and, you know, I'm a strong believer that if a person's been found guilty of drugs, they're positive, then the fight's off. That's it. You know, Denny White back in 2011, 12, he was guilty of drinking some basically fruit drink from a corner shop, which had a substance in it, which was considered to be a stimulant and then what he ended up with a two year ban. I'm fucking out.
And then we chucking to the melting pot on that. I'm kind of directing this more to the Eddie Herndt as well, here, that you've got Eddie's sort of harping on and sort of saying, oh, the lawyers are going to do this. The lawyers are going to do that. You know, the British box in Baltimore have made their comment, they haven't prohibited it, no one's been suspended, but they're not going to sanction that.
Whereas all of these videos now and they'll be abandoned around Eddie Herndt and his opinions in the last few years about anyone who's caught with drugs in their system and a whole relevance to Vada and Wada and if it comes up on these on these tests, the fights off from the person should be punished appropriately. Bit of a different version of events, like Eddie, he certainly wasn't saying any of that and it certainly sounded like he didn't want the fight to be off. And that was kind of, it sounded to me like an invisible with a converse there with Braggets at the back saying, I really want this to go on. And I'm not going to mention the elephant in the room about the drugs.
Yeah, he doesn't want to. And you know, exactly right, you think about how Eddie Herndt responded to baby Miller and how, you know, with his fellow drug test and how he responded to that and how he's spoken about Dremel Miller. And rightly so, rightly so, he's found out four or five drug tests, but whether it's four or five or whatever it's one, the band substance is a band substance. And I'm a believer in second chances, you've been, you've been to a prison today, and a prison today is about, you know, giving people a second chance.
And I'm a believer in the second chance, but I'm also believer in that boxing should be a safe sport. And, you know, people should get banned for using drugs. I'm not saying life bans. I think it should be a year, two years, and then they should two years and then come back.
You've got your second chance. And if you do it again, then you're banned for like that's always been my opinion on, you know, on drugs in boxing, particularly. You get a second chance, but after that, you're fucking done because this sport is too dangerous for people to be taking drugs, and especially, you know, a drug like, you know, something that increases testosterone, which is something that apparently con of in as has been taking, or at least he's found a test for. It's a lot, it's just so much that's kind of gone on today, really.
I think you have to give credit to the board really, because, you know, I've been very critical of the board over the years and, and particularly around their judging and around their refereeing. But one thing that's always been said about the board is safety. That they get the safety bit right. They get, you know, two ambulances at every show.
If, you know, like a Danny Williams situation, if someone's had five losses in a row, they have to go in and see the board or if they get stopped, they get suspended for 30 days. They do all this stuff at a protection of the fighters, have protection of themselves as well, because they don't want someone getting badly hurt on, you know, on their watch. But we have to go into the boards, they don't know, because they're just not, we're not going to not going to have it. And do you see the board kind of backing down now?
Could you see it happening before Saturday? No, they're not going to do that because they're very integrity to stand up to the, the statement, the findings, albeit there is a little grayer in there from my understanding. They've known about this in August. Is that correct?
There's like two Chris samples, an A and a B sample, and it's starting to come out now, and it's basically A and B samples the same thing off in Karl-France. And kind of nailed its day with inquiries about the difference between an A, B sample. We said, okay, you piss into a pot, half is poured into one pot, that's called A sample, and you pour the rest into an upper pot, and that's called B sample. So basically it's the same shit, it's a different pot, and they'll say piss even.
And so in terms of the British box and border control, I guess if they did know something from maybe it's the system that you can't release a statement until the B sample has been checked. But either way, with the evidence they've got, they've had to make a call. And because it's something out the ordinary, and it's a substance which represents a cross on the vada and one of this, then yeah, I think they're doing the right thing here. If they don't, then the likes of Guada and Vada who are international, recognised bodies use particularly in the United States as well.
For other fighters coming in, maybe from the US, they'll be like, well, if they're being lenient with these sort of decisions, we send our fighters out there, God knows where they're going to let go under the radar when we send our boys over. And so I think they've made the right decision here, I really do. And if there's an investigation going on today, we're going on Wednesday evening, so Thursday Friday, you never know miracles might flip around, and they say, oh, you know, actually, we got the sample mixed up with a weightlifter from 1984. And yeah, it's steroid, it's a fuck, it wasn't actually yourself, but some reality is it's going to be, no, it is you.
And we're still scratching our heads, working out how the fuck a female drug got in your system in the first place. And it's not me using the word female as a gender, any sort of stuff. It's a drug that male population don't tend to take. However, as we've really outlined, there are benefits to taking it due to the testosterone increase and the possible disguising of steroids.
Yeah, that's it. Yeah, it's a female fertility drug. I got my words all jumbled up at the start of the pod, but yes, that's what it is. And Carl Frampton, and if you don't follow Carl Frampton, he was actually really on form this afternoon.
He was tweeting a lot of really informative stuff, and it was him that kind of looked up what this drug is and showed everybody look, this increases testosterone and can increase it 100%. It can really have a big effect on people. People would say, well, kind of been past the test. He passed a UCAD test the next day.
And I saw somebody say, and it was a really well put point. Well, yes, but that's like getting pulled over by a police officer, getting a breath of the breath of the breath of the life, failing the breath of the day and having them come back the next day and having a security guard give you a breath of the life. And then you passing it, of course, you're going to pass it because it's all out of your system now. So don't talk to me about, don't talk to me about always past the test now because number one, well, it's the next day that stuff's gone.
And secondly, it wasn't vada that did the second test. It was you, and you can try their best, but the whole business that went on with Dylan White and the Oscar Reavast fight a few years ago where Dylan White failed a vada test, you know, it says everything really that you can't really in a position to do much about anything really. So it's really damning. It's actually really annoying.
I've spent £160 on a ticket to go and watch this fucking fight. And if it goes ahead, I'm still going to go because I spent £160 and they're not going to give me a refund. So I'm going. But yeah, it's just really, really irritating.
And it's actually, for me, Paul, I find it, I just, the older, the more I will follow boxing, the more I do, Eddie Hearn fucking annoys me. And I think he annoys, he's a boxing promoter. The boxing promoter is, you know, they're not the most honest of people. And that's okay.
But the guys has this strange legion of fans that seem to fucking listen to everywhere he says. And for, you know, when this fight was announced, when I was excited by the freak value of it, and I like Christian Bank, Jr, but what I was quite annoyed about was the weight was the weight that not only of the three pounds on the middle way, I could live with that. But what I was annoyed by the check weight the next day, how could Eddie Hearn and Conneben sit there with a straight face and demand that Christian Ubank have to do a check way the next day after what happens to fucking Michael Watson and Christian Ubank senior, all those years ago, it was to do with weight, but the guy had a brain injury. How could they sit there and demand he weighs a certain thing while they're guys fucking juicing?
It is just, I just, it just makes, it makes me sick, to be honest, because being dry at the way, and being weight drained is fucking dangerous. That's my point. Sorry. No, no, absolutely.
I mean, you know, it's funny because this morning, when I was trying to do a field, we were giving our views on who we thought was going to win and how, and he was back in Ben. I was back in New Bank, Jr. And he was saying, he said, I'm only back in Ben, he said, because of the weight, he said, you know, coming down to 160, he said, one thing, he said, drop into 150, so it's extra three pounds, he said, he's already like, you know, you can barely pinch him, he's that sort of skinny on the scales at 160. So to make that weight that makes him vulnerable, and there were three hydration cores, et cetera, are absolutely, you know, they border on insane almost and certainly unsafe.
But yeah, I mean, all of that said, you've been, Jr, you know, released a statement I think somewhere today, or Connor Ben, certainly mentioned, you know, I've spoken with Chris, and he's still happy to fight and all that sort of thing. Yeah, because he's probably confident that as he says, at 60%, he'll still beat him. I mean, just to say, I mean, all of this shit with the, you know, in the Brazilian beef, I fucking machete and, you know, donuts and all this shit. I mean, basically, I guarantee you'd have been sticking his mouth in his room, he'd be round the corner with his fingers down in front of giving it a big heave hoe, you know, so that would have got down a digestive tract very far.
I can tell you, but it's all part of the theatre, and you know, you've been Jr's always walked around that incredible way, walked around about 12 stone three most of his life. And when he's made Super Middle, it's just been a case of, you know, breathing out, he's pretty much on 12 stone and to get to 11 stone six, yeah, he's that's a little bit down, but he's always done it well. He's a, you know, he's body doesn't eat shit, despite the fact, you know, showing him walking around with a KSC and that's not him. And then he'd have to be the first three pounds on top of that.
So I think maybe, so I can logically not have it hit 157 for many, many years, would it would have been tough, but I still backed him because I think due to his experience and everything else, and Connor Ben and all the Connor Ben lovers saying that he was gonna knock out you, bang jr because he knocked out a couple of young role has been to one world titles many years before. Well, let me tell you now, I remember when I, if you might Murray and Austin, who's the hardest punch you've ever been in with and expecting him to say, go off again. Anyway, it's not going off again. He said, go off again, had a great way of opening you up.
And he said, we're hit here in place and it was done. Yeah. He said, but the hardest punch I went out of doubt was George Groves. He said, when he hit you, he says he let Tristan went down to boots.
Now, if George Groves couldn't knock out because he's you, you know, Connor Ben ain't gonna fucking do it. And yes, there'll be more of a hundred, well, at 157, but I still backed, you know, minus the drug and revelations today, I still back to you, bang jr so do it sort of around mid rounds. And so but yeah, we'll get to see that now. Not sure, not unless if it is true, we kind of bend it decides I'll be fucking dialysis in the next couple of days.
No, I agree with you 1000%. Groves is a massive punch. Any buzz new bank, I was there, I was at the fight and he was buzzed. I have it in my head that he dropped in, but I don't think it was counted to maybe it was a slave, I can't remember.
But you know, like you said, what fucking chances Connor Ben got, but it also in the same breath, it makes you look at Connor Ben, the start of his career where he was kind of going the distance and decisions and you know, going life in death with the champion of Luxembourg, you know, Cedric Peano. And now he's knocking out former world champions. And then today he fails a drug assessor, it comes out that he's failed a drug assess and you go, mmm, index finger to your lips and go, whoa, what's gone on here? We've Connor Ben, where's this power come from?
Well, I think we have our answer. Yeah, it's, it's just, yeah, it's actually, it's annoying me more than I thought, although I'll say today, I've not been on my phone so much my screen time's probably disgusting today. I was sat there slouched in my chair in the office, refreshing Twitter every 30 seconds. Now what's going on now?
Because it was, it has been good fun. Even though I'm a bit pissed off, I'm really pissed off. It has been, it has been good fun today. What's your gut feeling Paul?
You think it's, you think it's off, you think it's definitely off. One thing is, I'm pretty sure that the brilliant box British box in border control, I'm not going to do a U-turn, I'm not going to do a quasi-quartane here. And there's not going to be any confusion. Rob Smith is very black and white at that.
I mean, if he's not going to flip a decision with Jack Catrell and Josh Taylor, which was certainly wrong, then one which is possibly right here, I don't think he's going to flip on. You know, the integrity of that the board is at stake, but also the opinion from the boxing community today has been very heavily biased that if anybody takes drugs then, you know, you need to have action put against you. So I would say at the moment, it's chance to have it happening, 5% to do it. 85% yes, 15% no.
And that's slightly dissolving and playing for the bigger percentage, getting close to 100. I have no faith in, I have no faith in boxing and doing the right thing. I do, I'm probably 60-40, that it will happen. I still have a brilliant thing that might happen.
And I'm quite torn actually because I've spent 160 pound on a ticket and I'm going with, you know, T and hour, we're going to have a great time, or we was going to have a great time. But then, and it's my birthday this weekend, so it's part of the celebrations for that. And but then- I'll be right there. Oh, thank you so much.
But morally, it's wrong. Morally, I shouldn't go. I will go sort of fucking money on it, but it's wrong. Like it shouldn't be happening because the weight, I was pissed off about the weight, but I thought you know what, you bank will be fine, you'll make it, because I think all these videos of him eating food, shitty food, I think he's done a month ago, I think he's recorded a month ago and he's just putting them out now.
So yeah, I think he's played a blind up, you bank, and he's actually really made me laugh and that that that comment he made today, he said, I'm clean, I'm fit, I'm 60%. It just fucking, I was actually cracking up on the train when I saw that comment from him. I'm 60%. This fight is always saying I'm 100%, but his whole thing has been 60% and it just fucking made me laugh so much.
And he's been brilliant throughout, and you know, he should be, you know, much like I said about Usek, the other week he should be most popular firing in the world. Well, maybe not, you bank talking about popular firing a world, but he should go into that arena if the fight somehow goes ahead and he should be getting cheered to the rafters, because he's a clean fire, he's been brilliant throughout. And whether you like him or not, he has taken on tough fights. Yeah, there's been some fights he's not taken, but he's taken on tough fights.
He's done a world super series. And if the guy would have to vacate the belt, he would have won the IBF belt. So there's a part of me that would like to see the fight go ahead and then have you banked, stop him in six rounds, but it would be wrong. It would be wrong.
It shouldn't go ahead. It shouldn't, because we should be rewarding drug genes with massive paydays. And yes, Connebens deserves his due diligence and you know, you never know what might happen. But you know, as of now, they should not be fighting.
They should not be fighting. I think that will do pull. I don't think it's much else out there, really, mate. Thank you so much for your time.
That's it. No, no, thanks for having me on. And you know, these potties need to be done when stuff like this arises. I'm not even chance to talk about Joe Joyce, but if we'll leave this for now, but whether the fight goes ahead or not, we'll have a chat next week and we'll talk about Joe Joyce and Dontay Wildar who's fighting next weekend.
And yeah, we'll talk then. So thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you for your time.
There's the shields, the man of Marshall for the whole government. Yes, yes, absolutely. Oh God, that quickly. Did you see the belt, the WBC belt for the Marshall shield?
Yes. Really not the times, really not surprised. For those of you who haven't seen it, the WBC and their wisdom have made the Clarissa shields, a Savannah Marshall undisputed midway title fight for the WBC Elizabethan belt. The Elizabethan belt and it's good, it's good, it's good, and it's ugly, and I want it.
I hope that they end up on eBay and I get myself a dodgy fake copy of it because it's amazing. They really have outdone themselves this time, the WBC and where would we be without them? All right. Thank you, Paul.
Thank you so much. Cheers, girl. All right.