Artur Beterbiev’s Trainer Slams Hearn’s Comments On His VADA Findings
Artur Beterbiev’s trainer, John Scully, has hit out at Eddie Hearn’s response to the Russian’s ‘atypical’ VADA tests.
According to reports, Beterbiev’s urine and blood samples taken on December 6, 2023, showed human growth hormone and 5D-androstanediol, the levels of which were classed as atypical. This was ahead of his fight with Callum Smith on Saturday, raising question marks over whether there had been any foul play. Further blood and urine tests were conducted after which all came back negative, showing no wrongdoing. This was because the substances can occur naturally in the body. In response, Hearn demanded further clarity on Beterbiev’s situation.
Hearn On Beterbiev
“There’s no accusation towards Artur Beterbiev. If VADA feel it’s not an adverse finding then on we go. But we want to know more. If you’re saying they can occur naturally and there was a spike in them on those tests, but a week later there was no spike, can that happen? Is that something that happens naturally? It’s a very grey, cloudy area.
“I just feel there needs to be more transparency of people saying ‘this has happened and these are the reasons for it’. You can imagine when you receive that piece of paper from VADA and you’ve got a guy fighting that opponent and you read that, as someone who probably doesn’t understand the science, of course you’re concerns are monumental. We just want to be put at ease and I don’t feel like we’ve had that,” Hearn said
Team Beterbiev On Hearn
And yet, Hearn’s comments raised serious questions over his standards following his approach to Connor Benn’s two failed VADA tests. The boxer was meant to fight Chris Eubank Jr. at a catchweight of 157 pounds. However, Benn failed two tests as the British Boxing Board of Control did not sanction the fight. After that, UKAD decided to suspend Benn as an investigation continued.
The National Anti-Doping Agency lifted Benn’s suspension. However, reports stressed that the defense was based on UKAD’s inability to enforce VADA findings. Therefore, it did nothing to address whether Clomiphene was in Benn’s system, which is critical in light of strict liability. This meant he was allowed to box outside of the UK, and until Benn had a hearing with the board to clear his name, he could not fight in the UK. That lack of clarity from Benn and Hearn looks more noticeable in light of Hearn’s response to Beterbiev as his trainer outlined.
“It’s childish. I think a promoter sometimes runs out of stuff; there are only a couple of days left until the fight, and they kind of just throw stuff out there. They do it for fun, just to give people something to talk about. If anything, that will be a compliment to Artur because everyone is wondering, how can a guy be this strong? It tells you inadvertently what is on their mind. “In other words, if you said that guy is on steroids, it is not going to make a difference, but with Artur, they think that he’s got to be on steroids because nobody on Earth can be that strong,” Scully stated
Beterbiev’s Team
Those comments were backed up by Beterbiev’s other trainer Marc Ramsay.
“If the test appeared positive, the show would have been canceled. There was an anomaly. We had three tests that followed and all three were returned negative. He’s trying to play with our head at the moment. What’s rich is that this is coming from Eddie Hearn, the same guy who let my boxer Oscar Rivas into the ring with a drug cheat, Dillian Whyte. I was waiting forever for the results of the B-sample, and I never got them.
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