Promoter Eddie Hearn says the April fight between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn will be held at 160 lbs. The welterweight Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) will be moving up two weight divisions to take the fight with the 35-year-old middleweight contender Eubank Jr. (34-3, 25 KOs).
PPV Pricetag: Worth It?
Turki Al-Sheikh will have a tough time trying to sell the Eubank Jr. vs. Benn fight on DAZN PPV to fans outside the UK, but maybe he doesn’t care if the event loses money. In the early mornings, he said on X that he’d sell the event for 19.99 on PPV. That won’t go over well with fans who view these two fighters as fake hype jobs. They have zero notable wins on their resumes and no hopes of ever getting any.
You throw Eubank Jr. in with IBF and WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly, and he’s not going to last more than four rounds. The same with Conor Benn going up against IBF welterweight champion Jaron ‘Boot’s Ennis. He won’t see the fourth round. Benn and Eubank Jr. are barren of talent, but the Brits still love them for some odd reason that fans outside of the country will never understand.
Hearn says that Eubank Jr. wouldn’t give in, and this was the only way the fight could get made. That’s bad for Benn, 28, but it might not matter. Eubank Jr. is old, has lost a lot from his game from the fighter that he was a decade ago, and was never a high-level guy, even in his prime.
We’re domestic-level here, and not a highly ambitious person in Eubank Jr. Benn can win just on youth, aggression, and a superior pedigree, thanks to his famous dad, Nigel. The kryptonite for Eubank Jr. is aggression, and that’s what Conor Benn has going for him. He’s not a great talent either, purely domestic level as well, but he’s all wrong for an old underchiever like Eubank Jr.
Middleweight Territory
“The weight is at 160, which is Chris Eubank’s weight; it’s a much better hydration for him this time than it was last time,” Eddie Hearn said to the Stomping Ground about the weight for the April clash between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn on DAZN PPV.
“Conor’s coming up two weight classes, Conor’s a welterweight, he’s coming up to fight a middleweight. Nothing is unreasonable in the contract. Both fighters have life-changing opportunities. We’ve [Benn] got the greatest deal ever.
“The promotional plans he [Turki Al-Sheikh] has for this fight will blow your mind. You’re going to have a great, great build-up. This fight has everything. It’s going to be a monster. He’s undefeated fighter, he’s got dreams of going on.
“The only reason this fight is 50-50 is because he’s [Conor Benn] stepping up to middleweight. If this were two guys in the same weight class, I think Conor would be a massive favorite. He’s a young savage with a killer’s mindset, and he wants to take this guy’s head off his shoulders,” Hearn said about Benn’s attitude going up against the 35-year-old Eubank Jr.
“He just has to control his emotion during the build up and the fight. This is massive for British boxing. It’s going to be electric. We’ve got to build the narrative, build the history,” said Hearn.
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