Eddie Hearn has distanced himself from Dillian Whyte’s recent adverse finding by VADA.
The positive test resulted in the Anthony Joshua v Whyte fight being pulled, as Robert Helenius stepped in as a replacement.
However, in contrast with Conor Benn’s failed tests, Hearn has kept himself quiet when it comes to Whyte.
Following Benn’s two failed VADA tests for Clomiphene, his fight with Chris Eubank Jr. was called off, once the news came to light.
Meanwhile, Whyte’s fight was pulled immediately. That difference in approach was questioned with many scrutinizing why Hearn had decided to approach both fighters differently.
With that being said, this is what Hearn had to say.
“Firstly the tests, the results and the substances were very different. Secondly, the conversations between the teams were very different, Benn vs Eubank was a co-promotion, AJ vs Whyte was a pure Matchroom promotion.
“I don’t represent Dillian, so I can’t talk on his behalf. What I can say is, I am surprised and I’m in shock, he has employed VADA testing meticulously over his career,” Hearn
And yet, Whyte has been fighting with Matchroom on a fight-by-fight basis for numerous years, making him a Matchroom fighter even if he did not have a long-term contract.
Nevertheless, it is important to bear in mind the following points. Whyte has failed a test for the third time. In 2012, Whyte was banned for two years after a failed positive test.
In addition, another failed test followed in 2019 even if he was cleared thereafter. And now it seems that Hearn is keeping Whyte at arms length.
“I don’t know Dillian Whyte necessarily well enough; I haven’t looked into the science enough, I would like to think that he is innocent because I don’t like the fact that he would have tried to gain an advantage in this fight. But we also cannot ignore the situation,” Hearn