They fought a memorable if debatable draw, following an initial scrap three years earlier in Birmingham when the endearingly eccentric Eubank had relieved his great rival of the World Boxing Organisation world middleweight title in a contest described by the American arbiter Richard Steele as "the best I have ever refereed."

These two contests apparently set a template for what was to be the settlement of a long-standing family feud and this weekend by their respective offspring.

But Chris Eubank Junior and Conor Benn will not engage each other at London's O2 Arena, for the latter, it has been revealed, received an adverse finding on a drugs test several weeks ago.

This, somewhat suspiciously had been kept quiet but once the cat - or in this case a banned substance called clomifene - was out of the bag. 

The British Boxing Board of Control, who I suspect will never be totally comfortable with sanctioning the bout, had no option but to call it off, both for the sake of the fighters, and the sport.

Reluctantly the joint promoters, Matchroom and London-based German-owned company Wasserman today announced an indefinite "postponement", while hinting at possible legal action against the Board.

So, another fine mess for boxing, one which has literally cost millions with the combatants said to be pocketing £2 million ($2.2 million/€2.27 million) apiece, and the O2 selling out within an hour of the fight being announced, with ringside seats at £1,350 ($1,500/€1,540) being the first to go. Recession? What recession?

The prohibited substance revealed in Benn’s A sample is a drug principally used by women to treat infertility. But significantly in men it can increase testosterone which in turn helps boost muscularity.

This was to be a catchweight contest, with the undefeated Benn normally a novice welterweight paired with the vastly more experienced Eubank whose last contest was at super-middleweight, a difference of nine kilos.

Obviously with the match made at 157 pounds Benn needed to beef up, while Eubank was required to scale down. Possibly a fight too far for one or both off them.

I am by no means alone in thinking that this was a contest which should never have been made. 

Boxing is an inherently hazardous pursuit at the best of times, but on one hand Benn’s weight disadvantage was a worrying risk against a bigger, stronger man while Eubank faced the bugbear of having to dehydrate to lose weight.

No belts or titles were at stake. Simply bragging rights. A money-making exercise all round. Fascinating as it seemed on paper, in the ring tragedy as a lurking spectre.

This was something of which Eubank's flamboyant father was well aware, having struggled with weight problems himself.

He seemed genuinely not to want the fight to take place, saying poignantly "this fight should not be allowed to happen.

"It is too dangerous. I have lost one son, I do not want to lose another."

Last year Eubank Junior’s younger brother, Sebastian, himself a boxer, drowned in a tragic accident in Dubai.

Almost invariably fatalities, or brain injuries, in boxing are caused by dehydration, and boxers struggling to make weight.

I recall the late Bobby Neill, a former British featherweight champion who was a close friend, being rushed to hospital with a brain haemorrhage when stopped by 1956 Olympic champion Terry Spinks at Wembley.

Spinks was not a heavy puncher but Bobby, who survived the surgery but never fought again, later revealed to me that to make the nine stone limit the only liquid intake he had for three days before the fight was from his own saliva by sucking a pebble.

Thank goodness we have been spared the possibility of a disaster. Boxing needs good fights, not freak shows on. 

At the moment despite its booming popularity, the once noble art is on the ropes again, with this unsavoury episode.

The one fight we all want to see, Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua is unlikely ever to take place thanks to AJ’s apparent reluctance, and boxing is on the brink of being eliminated from the Olympic Games.

Somebody ring the bell.