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Conor Benn is determined to defeat Chris Eubank Jnr in their eagerly anticipated bout - Getty Images/Richard Pelham
With the pugnacious Conor Benn, the apple has not fallen far from the tree. Father Nigel – a British boxing legend – is an emotional, heart-on-sleeve character and both are terrors in the ring. Additionally, they are bona fide rivals with the Eubank family, and between them form one of the greatest grudges in boxing history.
That family feud runs deep and the fight between the sons this weekend at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the third instalment in a series of fights that first captured public imagination like wildfire in the Nineties.
The junior Benn insisted: “This is more than just a boxing match, more than just rivalry, it is an opportunity to put Eubank in his place. It has become personal. I love the challenge of jumping up two weight divisions, and I just can’t wait to smash him in the face.”
Benn-Eubank 3, bridging two weight divisions, is happening in spite of a two-and-a-half-year delay through Benn’s adverse drug test for clomifene. It has been further fuelled by the goading of Benn by Eubank, who smashed an egg into Benn’s face at a promotional event in Manchester, for which he has been fined £100,000 by the British Boxing Board of Control on a disrepute charge.
Credit: Sky Sports
This prizefight – in which the fighters will share a £17 million purse – was set on a collision course because of the blood spilled by their fathers. Two great fighters who left so much of themselves in the ring, in a different time in the sport.
The younger Benn explained that the same passion will be to the fore. There was no love lost after the fathers’ first fight at middleweight, won by Eubank by stoppage in the ninth round, and they fought to a draw in October 1993, in front of 42,000 fans at Old Trafford, in Manchester, for the WBO/WBC 12st crowns.
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Chris Eubank (left) and Nigel Benn trade blows in 1993 - Getty Images/Holly Stein
“Look,” Benn, 28, says. “This is the greatest British rivalry. It’s something that hasn’t been done before. Two world champions’ sons in the greatest of British rivalries. As well as making history, and the magnitude of it, this is the fight that is capturing the imagination of the public.
“Winning a world title is every fighter’s dream, but you can’t turn down fights of this magnitude. I love the challenge of jumping up two weight divisions to show how good I am. I’m loving the anticipation of it and to sell out Tottenham stadium is something you can tick off in your career. These opportunities don’t come around often, and I want to give my entire body and soul to it.”
‘I’m going to bash his head in’
On whether the fight has grown in stature over 30 months, Benn said: “Listen, I’ve been extremely inactive but I’ve stayed in the gym, I’ve stayed extremely disciplined and used the time wisely. Come April 26th you will see a better version of myself, a more filled-out version of myself, and the time away has given me a different mindset and resilience.
“Love it or hate it, with a fight of this magnitude, there is always going to be controversy. The controversy sells. Over the past two-and-a-half years, the catchweight, the names, the personalities, there are so many different boxes that have been ticked... but all that matters for me now is that I come out with the ‘W’ on April 26th.”
Benn then summoned the passion of his father, when he added. “Excuse my language but f--- the noise, let’s just get in there and fight...I don’t look at it as more pressure on me, for whatever people want to say that’s negative about this fight, there ain’t no pressure.
“Ultimately, I’m a fighter – I live for this, I was born for this. This is what I was made to do. I wasn’t raised a fighter. There is no reason why I have as much fight in me as I do... apart from me being my father’s son. And you can say the same about Eubank, and that is why the fight sells....
“It’s a blessing to make history, a blessing to be a part of history. I’ll be showing my son and my kids, as my dad did with me... that this is generational.”
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Conor Benn and his father Nigel have a very close relationship - Getty Images/Mark Robinson
While many will insist Benn’s desire to fight Eubank is financial, the fighter himself cites family pride. “Having the ‘W’ against a Eubank is something we always wanted and the drive is there to win the family battle. On a more personal level, the last three years have left a bad taste in my mouth, and I have taken it personally. We are two different personalities. And that’s that, there’s a personality clash there. I don’t really have anything left to say to him...as I keep telling everyone.”
Benn wants a war. From the first bell. Route one. Like the first, brutal bloodbath in 1990. “I’m going to bash his head in. You never hear my dad once saying about me jumping up two weight divisions to 160, and you have [Eubank] Senior moaning about his son fighting at his own weight. Eubank’s own father doesn’t even like him.
“But my dad will be with me in my corner; he will be with me my whole camp. And during fight week, my dad will be my right-hand man.”
Eubank Sr has branded his son ‘a disgrace’ and said he will not be attending the event on Saturday night. He has critiqued his son smashing the egg into Benn’s face and expressed concerns over the weight restriction of 160lbs on his son – with a rehydration clause of 170lbs – and believes the two fighters are too far apart in reality, in natural weight. Last week Eubank Sr lambasted the media for promoting the contest, including your correspondent.
This third Eubank-Benn fight is more than just a sporting event; it’s a culmination of decades of drama, a contest shaped from chaos. And when the dust settles, reputations will either be tarnished or reforged. Who comes out on top?
“It will be me, and the Benn name,” Benn predicted. “Ultimately I don’t care what Eubank does; how Eubank prepares. If he wants to come and meet me in the middle, if he wants to box and move, it doesn’t change my strategy or mindset. It’s never mattered to me what my opponents do. This will be about what Conor Benn does, what Conor Benn does well, and when that first bell sounds, there will be no holding me back...”
There is something deeply unmissable about this fight and this family rivalry.
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