FOLLOWING Saturday’s enthralling encounter between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn, fans are clamouring for the British duo to meet again, but promoter Eddie Hearn has his doubts.
A natural welterweight, Conor Benn, 23-1 (14 KOs), moved up to 160lbs in order to take on his cross-generational rival and do what his father could not – notch a win over the Eubank name.
However, despite a spirited effort, it was the guts and guile of Chris Eubank Jr., 35-3 (25 KOs), that saw him come out of the gruelling war on top, breaking the 2025 punch stats record over the course of a unanimous-decision triumph.
The performance of the 35-year-old has been given further credit due to the popular belief that he was hampered by a restrictive rehydration clause, but Hearn told Boxing News that the fight day weigh-in was ‘no problem at all’ for Eubank Jr.
“The reality is that the rehydration clause was no problem for him at all. In fact, he was asleep, he was supposed to come to the weigh-in at 8am on Saturday and he slept in until 10/11am. He woke up, put his gear on and weighed in a half-pound under.
“What they did was they messed up the weight on the first go, so really the criticism is not about the hydration, the criticism is about him making his own championship weight, we never asked him to come down.
Furthermore, Hearn hit back at those who have blamed him for the supposedly unsafe terms of the first fight, explaining that he was not involved in those negotiations and revealing that those terms will remain the same for any future rematch.
“I know I get the blame for everything, but we never negotiated the contract for Chris Eubank Jr., we didn’t tell him that he needed to make 160lbs and [rehydrate to] 170lbs.
“That was individually negotiated by Ring Magazine, Sela and Team Eubank, then those same people came to us and said that the terms will be 160lbs and a 10lb rehydration and asked if we were happy with that and we said yes.”
“They negotiated a contract with Ring Magazine on those terms and it’s the same terms for the rematch. If they weren’t happy with that then they shouldn’t have agreed to that.”
Yet, regardless of their captivating clash at the weekend, Hearn remains unsure as to whether Eubank and Benn will meet again, admitting his concerns that Eubank will refuse to go ahead with a second fight now that Benn’s disadvantages are lesser.
“I don’t know if Eubank will take it, I don’t want to say if he will fight again but he got out of hospital on Monday, it was a brutal war, he knows Conor is going to be less inactive this time, stronger at the weight, more confident – but it is a lot of money.”
Whilst a second scrap with Benn is sure to draw huge numbers, a lucrative showdown with Canelo Alvarez has also been mentioned, although any such event would likely take place in 2026 given Canelo’s plans to face Terence Crawford in September.
