Conor Benn is on the verge of superstardom. Next week, he is set to face Ryan Garcia at the T-Mobile Arena. While it will make Benn a first-time world title holder, a win over a star attraction like Garcia could put the English welterweight on the global stage.

It’s an opportunity Benn can barely afford to miss. After all, he has weathered way too many storms to reach this stage. Coming off a PED controversy that made his future in boxing uncertain, Benn cannot let this opportunity slip away. With just a week left before he takes on Garcia, Benn sat down with Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor on The Pivot podcast and recalled those difficult days that nearly took the darkest turn.

“I just couldn’t handle what was going on,” Benn said when Clark asked him to take him through that period. “I couldn’t accept it. I struggled. I felt humiliation (for) my family. I felt sorry for my son that I’m his dad. I couldn’t even look my son in the face. I couldn’t even go to the boxing gym. I couldn’t even (think) of waking up the next day.”

“I couldn’t bear the thought of having to (wake) up to the same reality I was living. And when your faith lets you down, when you feel like your faith lets you down, that’s when that’s when it all comes to an end, you know. And yeah, I almost took my own life.”

Recalling those moments when, late at night, he walked over to a bridge to end his life, Benn could not control his emotions. Tears started flowing down his face.

The foremost thought occupying his mind at the time was his children. Thankfully, he managed to control himself and went back home. Benn could not help but thank God for that change in thought and His timely intervention.

Recalling that time, Benn became emotional, leaving the hosts in tears, along with many viewers who commented on social media.

To understand how Benn reached that point, it is important to look back at the doping scandal that emerged in late 2022.

The fight Conor Benn had outside the ring

In October that year, Benn was supposed to fight Chris Eubank Jr. However, two drug tests, taken previously in June and September, found the banned substance clomifene in his samples. As a result, the boxing’s governing body in Great Britain, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC), stopped the fight from taking place.

Benn later gave up his UK boxing license.

A few months later, in April of 2023, the UK Anti-Doping Agency (UKAD) officially charged Benn and temporarily suspended him, which basically meant he could not compete while the case was being investigated.

In July, however, an independent National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) lifted Benn’s suspension, allowing him to return to boxing.

Benn subsequently fought twice, against Rodolfo Orozco on September 23, and later faced Peter Dobson on February 3, 2024. However, both bouts took place in the United States because the NADP decision was appealed by the UKAD and BBBoC.

As a result, his provisional suspension was put back in place in May 2024 while the case continued. Later that year, in November, another NADP panel lifted the suspension permanently. Reportedly, it was not sufficiently convinced that Benn had committed an anti-doping rule violation.

UKAD and the BBBoC then reviewed the decision and later that month announced that they would not appeal it again. With that, Benn’s nearly two-year ordeal effectively came to an end.

Even so, the comeback was not entirely easy. Finally catching up with archrival Chris Eubank Jr. on April 26 last year, Benn suffered his first career loss. The doping scandal was still fresh enough to follow him into the fight, as Eubank Jr. slapped an egg on Benn’s face during the lead-up.

As the PED controversy raged, Benn found himself at the center of widespread trolling and mockery over the so-called “egg defense.”

It’s a different fact; the claim reportedly did not come from Benn himself but from the WBC, which in February 2023 cleared him of intentional doping after concluding that high consumption of eggs could have been the reason behind the adverse findings.

Benn, however, rebounded from that setback and defeated Eubank Jr. in their rematch. He then took his career in a new direction, leaving longtime promoter Eddie Hearn to join Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing, where he defeated former champion Regis Prograis on his promotion debut, earning a title shot.

Looking back, Benn can reflect on how he stepped away from a drastic action that would have left his family and fans in deep sorrow and instead gave himself another chance.

His resilience and perseverance have now brought him to the edge of greatness, which is just one fight standing between him and the next major step in his career.