“Absolute Joke, Complete Hypocrites”, Eddie Hearn SLAMS BOXXER For No VADA Testing In Smith Eubank
- There Was No VADA Testing On Saturday’s Chris Eubank Jr-Liam Smith Fight
- BOXXER’s Ben Shalom Argued That UKAD Testing Was Sufficient For The PPV Event
- Eddie Hearn Has Now Come Out And Criticised The Company For Not Employing VADA
CHRIS EUBANK JR avenged Liam Smith with a tenth-round stoppage win at Manchester’s AO Area last Saturday.
Smith stunningly stopped Eubank Jr in four rounds back in January. The fourth round was pivotal in their rematch, however, this time in favour of Eubank Jr, who dropped the Liverpudlian with a brilliantly-placed right uppercut.
The son of British boxing legend Chris Eubank Sr dominated the fight before the referee saved Smith in the tenth round from further punishment – a fight that should’ve been stopped three rounds earlier.
The fight week, however, wasn’t without controversy.
Ben Shalom was asked if there was VADA testing employed in the bout and refused to answer citing confidentiality.
Everybody didn’t get the memo though as Joe McNally and Kalle Sauerland had no issues confirming that there was no VADA testing for the bout and the attempted secrecy quickly unravelled.
The defence from Shalom was that UKAD was already testing the fighters and they didn’t want to involve more agencies. “What more can we do?” He asked.
Eddie Hearn On Smith Eubank 2 Testing
“There was no VADA testing, Hearn told iFL TV about Smith Euabnk 2, “It’s a PPV event, absolute joke.”
“You wouldn’t pay the 30 grand. Don’t talk to me, don’t make comments, you couldn’t lace my boots.”
Hearn believes that the lack of VADA testing wasn’t because BOXXER/Wasserman were satisfied with UKAD testing but rather because they didn’t want to cover the costs affiliated with employing VADA.
VADA is far better than UKAD at catching athletes with banned substances in their bodies. Fighters who have failed VADA tests have often passed all accompanying UKAD tests and experts in the field believe that UKAD testing isn’t up to the standard of VADA.
“Put your hand in your pocket and make the sport safer.”
“Don’t ever rely on UKAD testing”. Hearn asked how many times Eubank and Smith were tested in their camps insisting that the number wouldn’t be more than 2-3 and VADA would’ve added six additional tests each if they were employed.
“You do both (UKAD and VADA). You talk about wanting to make the sport safer, you’re all complete hypocrites. How can you not have VADA testing for a PPV event?”