“I want my revenge, man,” Conor Benn said quietly in the early hours of Sunday morning as his bruised face reflected his emotional pain after he lost against Chris Eubank Jr in a wild brawl at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. “I want my revenge.”
Those typical boxing words echoed the misguided clamour for a rematch with Eubank Jr. Eddie Hearn admitted that he would prefer Benn to move back down two divisions to welterweight but the promoter grinned helplessly: “The public, His Excellency, everybody’s going to want the rematch.”
Turki al-Sheikh heads Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority which splurges billions of dollars while controlling the fight game. Boxing’s fawning over his largesse means that he must be called His Excellency and Hearn said, with suitable deference: “You heard His Excellency in the ring. He’s booked the [rematch] date here, for September.”
Hearn had already claimed, with an abandon which matched Benn’s wild swings in the ring, that we had just witnessed “one of the greatest fights in British boxing history”. That was a seismic exaggeration. Benn and Eubank Jr produced a dramatic slugfest where limited skill was dwarfed by considerable courage. It was an unnatural match-up between an ageing middleweight and a raw welterweight who needs further ring education.
Glossing over Benn’s two positive drug tests in 2022, Hearn suggested the boxer has “a very clean heart” and said: “I’ve just witnessed one of the great performances from a British fighter – 147 pound fighter, whether you like it or not, moved up [to 160lb] and never stopped trying to win.
“Obviously we know what he’s been through. But tonight Conor Benn has become the people’s champion because this kid has always been a great kid … that was an amazing performance.”
It was more impressive to hear Benn’s candid admission that he was not quite as brilliant as he was being told. “This ain’t good enough for me,” he said with a sad shrug. “I need to do better.
“It’s a hard one to swallow … but I wasn’t good enough. I always believe you have to be your harshest critic and look in the mirror and ask: ‘What could I have done better? How can I improve?’”
His father, Nigel, agreed. “He didn’t perform as well as he can,” he said, pointing out that Conor spent too much time on the ropes and “he was winging his punches”.
At least Hearn offered a cautionary note: “This kid has an unbelievable future but it’s not just about throwing him back into a war and trying to avenge a defeat in a weight class he probably shouldn’t be in. I think he can win the rematch and it’s the biggest fight in Britain and one of the biggest in the world. But we have to think carefully because he’s just been through an unbelievable amount.”
So had Eubank Jr. A rehydration clause meant he had to weigh in for a second time on the morning of the fight. The fact that he could not add more than 10lb after the first official weigh-in on Friday hampered his recovery but Hearn said: “For me the terms were spot-on. You saw a very evenly matched fight where a big 160-pounder rehydrated OK. Conor weighed 165lb in the ring. Eubank was probably 176, 177lb in the ring. We got it absolutely right.
“But the danger was not for Eubank Jr. The danger was for Conor Benn and that’s why we’ve got to think very carefully about the rematch. It’s all very well us sitting here thinking: ‘Wow what a fight, let’s do it again.’ But those kind of fights shorten your career.”
after newsletter promotion
Yet Hearn also stressed that “the terms are already agreed for the rematch and it’s the same as the first contract in that respect – we got it spot-on with the numbers”.
The atmosphere softened as Benn spoke of Eubank Jr: “I wish him well. I know he’s gone to hospital. I’ve heard he’s got a broken jaw, so I wish him a speedy recovery. I also want to thank [Eubank] Senior for turning up because this really is a family affair and it wouldn’t have been what it was without Senior.”
The surprise appearance of Eubank Sr, after his estrangement from his son and his comparison of the fight to “attempted murder”, clearly moved Benn. “I looked at Chris Sr and I grabbed him by the neck and said: ‘Mate, I’m so happy you’re here.’
“Outside all the noise, the promotion and the fight, your relationship with your dad never goes. I will pick my relationship with my dad over boxing any day of the week.”
Benn shook his head at the reconciliation of the Eubanks. “If this has brought them together? Cor, that’s worth its weight in gold.” Someone asked Benn if he finally respected Eubank Jr. “Listen, he ain’t my cup of tea. I wouldn’t sit down and have a chat with him but … of course there is [respect] … I guess.” “C’mon, answer the question,” Nigel quipped.
“There’s respect obviously,” his son conceded. “We’ve gone 12 rounds together … but he’s Chris in’ee?” “Like his dad,” Nigel said with a laugh.
Benn paused and, just before slipping away to nurse his wounds and dream of the seemingly inevitable rematch, he said: “I like him as much as I possibly can, given the situation.”
