The disdain, the enmity and, yes, the hate between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn isn’t manufactured. It’s not promotional theater or scripted tension.It’s raw. It’s personal. And on Saturday in front of 62,000 fans in Tottenham, England, it’s going to spill into the ring.
They don’t know exactly when it started, or why. No one does.
Maybe it began in the blood. Maybe, for Eubank Jr., it started in the womb.
Maybe it’s just what happens when you grow up carrying the weight of names like Benn and Eubank, and all the unfinished business those names left behind.
More than 30 years ago, their fathers lit the fuse.Now the sons are standing over the powder keg, ready to set it off in front of a massive, bloodthirsty crowd.
The story begins, innocently enough, in Las Vegas, where fools are easily made and wallets quickly emptied without warning.
Nigel Benn was 27–1 with 25 knockouts, fresh off a jaw-dropping, one-round destruction of Iran Barkley.
Barkley had entered the Benn fight off a third-round KO of Thomas Hearns and decision losses to Roberto Duran and Michael Nunn. He was still a marquee name in boxing.
Nigel Benn was still trying to reach that level when he blasted out Barkley in the first, winning the WBO middleweight title and building a reputation as a killer in the process.
Three months later, that win led him to Chris Eubank Sr. in Birmingham, and the start of one of British boxing’s most storied rivalries on Nov. 18, 1990.
Chris Jr. was two months old.
Conor hadn’t drawn his first breath.
But make no mistake: this fight has been decades in the making.
The rivalry has been heightened by Conor Benn’s 2022 drug test failure that forced cancelation of the bout when they were first supposed to meet nearly three years ago.
Benn claims he’s been vindicated and blames the positive test on having eaten contaminated eggs.
Eubank’s incredulous reaction simply stoked the flames. And at the first news conference to announce the bout, he smashed an egg into Benn’s face.
Eubank was fined $130,000 by the British Boxing Board of Control for hitting Benn with the egg. It also led to even frostier relations with his father, but he insists he remains wholly unaffected.
“Shenanigans? I don't do shenanigans,” Eubank said. “I do what I believe is right and I do what I want to do. If you guys think they're shenanigans, then fair enough. I'm just being me.”
His father lashed out at him, scolding him for embarrassing the family name.
A lot of people are skeptical of the egg excuse. Few athletes admit they cheated when they failed an anti-doping test, and Eubank Jr. has the right to doubt the findings. Benn promoter Eddie Hearn was desperately trying in 2022 to keep the fight together.
Eubank is 35 and has been a pro for nearly 14 years. He knows better than to put his hands on an opponent prior to a fight.
It brought plenty of heat, though this rivalry was explosive enough without it.
Both men have plenty to prove. Neither is in that upper tier with the elite, and a win on Saturday probably won’t change that for either.
It feels, though, like both see the bout as some sort of attempt at vindication.
Benn has nothing near what could be called an elite victory, but he has thrown himself into this fight.
“Yeah, it’s always personal,” Benn said. “Every opponent I fight, it’s personal. People want to say it’s strictly business. It ain’t business. It’s never business. If you’re trying to put your hands on me and render me unconscious, it’s never business. It’s always personal [with] every single one of my opponents, but this one has a little bit more history to it, shall we say.”
Benn is the one with more to prove. While his father was the defending champion in Part 1 of the rivalry, the son enters the rematch with a light resume void of serious opposition.
Add to that the fact he’s jumping two weight classes and that Eubank Jr. has faced vastly better opposition and it swings in Eubank’s direction. DraftKings sportsbook has Eubank as a -170 favorite, with Benn as a +135 underdog.
The over-under is set at 8.5 rounds, with over and under each at -115.
Eubank is no Canelo Alvarez, and the times he’s stepped up in competition — versus Billy Joe Saunders, George Groves and Liam Smith — he’s lost. He did defeat Smith in a rematch, however.
Eubank’s experience and size should be enough to carry him to a decision. But if you’re tuning in hoping for closure, don’t bother. This rivalry has always been bigger than one night.
Mark Robinson/Matchroom
Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) is a slight underdog Saturday to Chris Eubank.