sport news MARTIN SAMUEL: All integrity is lost when sport becomes cynical game of looking ... trends now

And now a brief word from Eddie Hearn. ‘What is the point in signing up for drug testing if, when you fail, everyone goes, “Oh don’t worry about it, just let him fight”? The argument of, “Well, it’s all right with UKAD”, is totally irrelevant. You’ve signed for drug testing with VADA — the best testing agency, in my opinion, in the sport.’

And he’s right, of course he’s right. But that’s the problem with talking, isn’t it? Some people listen to what you say. Others document it.

A few even remember it. And Hearn talks, a lot. So as he battled for two days to put on a promotion featuring a headliner who had tested positive against another who was shedding pounds desperately to make a weight, it was a matter of time before footage emerged of his take on the issue when Billy Joe Saunders returned a similar test prior to his fight with Demetrius Andrade in 2018.

The circumstances had echoes right down to the identity of the testing body — the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.

Back then, Hearn pronounced them the best. This week he wanted to disregard their inconvenient findings on the grounds UKAD were the official testers for Conor Benn versus Chris Eubank Jnr.

Juxtaposed with his historic commentary, he truly had no defence. There is not a line from his thoughts on Saunders that remain consistent with his stance this week.

Indeed, if Hearn announced he had changed his mind, it was only about the money after all, he appeared less interested in the integrity of his sport or even in the care for his boxers, it would at least appear to support his actions. Reputationally, Hearn would have been the biggest loser of all if this fight had gone ahead.

Even scrapped, it was an unsavoury spectacle, the promoters of the sweet science seeking to undermine sweet reason in a court of law after the British Boxing Board of Control washed their hands of the fight.

What a repulsive scene it became. And yet nobody was stepping away. Not DAZN who were broadcasting the fight, not the highly principled BBC who were to provide radio commentary, or the O2 Arena venue, or the sponsors, such as bookmakers Betfred.

Not one of them budged, not one took a backward step. So it wasn’t just Hearn. Nobody with skin in the freakshow appeared keen to vacate their ringside seat until it became legally impossible to do anything else.

In the past, promoters have found sanctioning bodies from outside the United Kingdom but Hearn insisted he wouldn’t. That doesn’t mean others did not explore.

It was a joint promotion after all. And that is a growing problem for all sports, the rogue rulebook.

Take golf. Long term, the LIV Tour may have found a way to get its rebel participants the ranking points they crave by joining up with MENA, the Middle East and North African tour.

MENA is little known and little recognised. It last held an event in Jordan in March 2020 won by Ryan Lumsden, currently ranked 834th in the world, which cost $400 to enter as a professional, $200 as an amateur.

Even the Race to Jordan 2, as it was named, had a cut though. LIV tournaments do not. Nor do they average fields of over 75 players, another supposed non-negotiable when awarding Official Golf World Ranking points.

LIV hoped their next event, in Thailand this week, would accrue OGWR points by taking place beneath the MENA umbrella, but that confidence was misplaced.

Insufficient notice had been given by MENA of a change to its membership structure, meaning OGWR discounted LIV Thailand and is now reviewing its relationship with MENA, too.

No doubt this ends in another legal challenge, yet LIV feel they have a way into the system and as MENA has never known publicity like this, it is willing to co-operate and principle be damned.

No doubt Benn and Eubank Jr would have found a governing body willing to license their fight, too, had Hearn been willing to push harder.

Malta was mentioned. This is where reason now resides. It is under siege from the highest bidders, the smoothest legal operators, those who consider integrity a curse word.

So while skirting the edges may come at a higher price in boxing — the ramifications of letting an illegally pumped-up fighter into the ring are considerably more troubling than who gets to be the richest golfer on tour — as a sport it is far from alone.

This week, the Aga Khan, one of horse racing’s wealthiest owners sacked his retained rider, Christophe Soumillon, for elbowing a rival jockey, Rossa Ryan, off his mount during a race last Friday.

A principled stand at last? Hardly. Soumillon was already banned for the rest of the season, and first His Highness let him ride Vadeni in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Sunday.

Vadeni came second, meaning Soumillon nearly walked away with the greatest prize in European racing, before commencing a ban for an act that could have gravely injured, even killed, a fellow rider.

He may yet appear for Aga Khan next season, at the discretion of his trainers and team in France. So it is barely a dismissal.

He’s sacked from the part of the season he’s banned from anyway, he may ride again when the dust has settled and, before any of this happened, he was allowed on the back of one of the favourites for France’s most prestigious race.

In the meantime, France Galop are reconsidering their rules so that rider bans start immediately. ‘It is hard for people to understand after such an incident that a jockey can keep riding for 14 days,’ said chief executive Olivier Delloye.

France Galop has had 27 years to work that out since it was formed. Racing at Longchamp dates back to 1857.

Governing bodies leave loopholes that slick operators wriggle through when money is at stake.

The

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