ON April 26, Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn will finally collide and continue the rivalry begun by their fathers 35 years ago.
With pride and history already at stake, even further incentive has been added in recent months with the lucrative carrot of a Canelo clash possible for the victor. Eubank has claimed, however, that the fight would not be as big as his long-awaited meeting with Benn.
Eubank Sr. and Nigel Benn met for the first time back in 1990, with Eubank coming out on top with a ninth-round technical knockout against the well-supported fan favourite, before a rematch three years later ended with a controversial draw––which many felt Benn had done enough to win.
In October 2022, Eubank and Benn’s scheduled scrap was cancelled due to the latter failing a drug test – a moment that has somewhat shifted public backing, with Benn no longer deemed as the man to get behind against the usual pantomime villain: Eubank.
With the pair finally set to settle their differences and meet in the ring, the magnitude of the event means that superstardom, as well as bragging rights, awaits the winner in one of the most heated grudge matches in the modern era.
In an interview on The Ariel Helwani Show, Eubank Jr. explained his belief that a fight with global boxing phenomenon and reigning unified super-middleweight world champion, Canelo Alvarez, 62-2-2 (39 KOs), is ‘the next logical step’.
“I do think that is the next logical fight. This [Benn] fight, Turki [Alalshikh] is saying it will put me in the position to get in the ring with Canelo, which would be amazing.”
However, despite Canelo being a modern great of the sport and the arguable poster boy of world boxing and likely an undisputed champion by the time their proposed fight would take place, Eubank claimed that his meeting with Benn, steeped in history and controversy, holds more interest to the British public.
“He [Eubank Sr.] thinks that Canelo is the only guy that I should fight and that is not how boxing works. This is a fight for the fans, they have been demanding it for years, this fight is bigger than boxing, it is mainstream in the U.K.
“In the U.K. it is probably bigger than the Canelo fight because the general public don’t know who Canelo is. The boxing fans do, but the general public don’t because the general public aren’t boxing fans, they don’t know anything about boxing.
“This is a fight where you have got kids, you’ve got grandmas, you’ve got people who don’t know or care about boxing at all and they are going to be at that fight.
“This is a very special thing that we have here.”
