They had the pantomime, the pageantry and then the punch up. Now it is time to put it all to bed.
Chris Eubank Jr got his own personal revenge against Conor Benn and settled a family rivalry that has been brewing for nearly 35 years. As he was being taken to hospital, there was already talk of a rematch being pushed.
Saudi boxing boss Turki Alalshikh has got Tottenham Hotspur Stadium provisionally booked for September. Yet after a fight which was entertaining in a brutal way but lacking elite level class and three years of scandal sparked initially by doping test drama involving Benn, the question must be asked; do we need to see all this again?
Or would boxing not be better off with the memories of a dramatic night and the rest of the nonsense involved consigned to history?
There’s no need to see Eubank Jr at the middleweight limit of 11st 6lb again. With or without rehydration clauses.
He was exhausted from the middle of the fight and still in hospital recovering on Sunday night.
The fathers embraced, the fighters exchanged pleasantries after the unanimous points decision win for Eubank Jr on three scorecards of 116-112. How would they even sell another fight when this one was based on hatred?
They may still try judging by the post-fight press conference attended by Benn, his promoter Eddie Hearn and father Nigel.
“I want my revenge,” Benn said. “Inactivity played a big part. It’s a hard one to swallow, man. I didn’t come into the fight thinking it would be that close, I didn’t come in to lose. I didn’t come in for anything apart from winning. I wasn’t good enough so I need to do better.”
The drama involving this fight has been running since October 2022 while their fathers famously fought in 1990 and 1993, with Eubank Sr winning the first and the second a draw.
But the drama on the night began at around 8.15pm when the cameras cut to a car arriving under Spurs’ stunning stadium. Eubank Sr had insisted he wanted no part of this fight yet WWE script writers would have been proud of the moment that car door opened.
Then there was more drama suited to the world of wrestling when Benn’s plot of having Billy Joe Saunders inspect the hand wrapping in Eubank Jr’s dressing room didn’t go to plan.
Saunders was stopped from entering the dressing room of his former foe because he doesn’t have a British Boxing Board of Control licence.
Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn will face off on Saturday, April 26, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Fans can order the fight on DAZN PPV for £19.95, which also comes with a DAZN seven-day free trial.
£19.95
DAZNHis plea that he had a full British driving licence was a touch of humour amid the fracas. Finally the fight. Benn was wild as he came out swinging, looking to land a big shot and he hurt Eubank Jr on more than one occasion.
Eubank Jr’s superior jab would be the weapon to keep him away and his bigger size was evident. When ‘Next Gen’, in the white and red his father wore for his first fight with Nigel Benn, found a rhythm through the middle rounds it became his fight.
He would tire dramatically but Benn, despite plenty of enthusiasm, couldn’t maintain enough quality pressure amid the grappling from both men. Eubank Jr would finish the strongest and nearly found a stoppage in the last round to rubber stamp his victory.
The Brighton man should, at 35, consider his future in the ring. Benn, a bit younger at 28, needs to find his best weight division. But they should both move on rather than take the contracted rematch.
