Despite his attempts to wax lyrical through Manchester’s press conference on Tuesday evening, it is what came at its end that people will remember Chris Eubank Jnr for.
After several lengthy monologues, having repeatedly told the promoter Eddie Hearn to be quiet, and having spoken over Conor Benn’s occasional offerings, when Eubank Jnr and Benn finally went head to head, Eubank Jnr slapped Benn with his left hand and the egg he held within his grasp cracked across Benn’s face.
The egg was used as a symbol, given Benn failed two drugs tests and tested positive for the banned substance clomifene ahead of their first scheduled encounter in 2022. The WBC later, upon clearing Benn themselves, claimed that those results could have occurred because of the number of eggs Benn consumed. Benn has maintained his innocence throughout.
Until that flashpoint, Eubank Jnr had been outspoken but measured.
When Hearn initially started talking, Eubank Jnr said: “This is Eubank versus Benn, so you can either sabotage the event, or you can be quiet and we can move ahead with the press conference… I don’t want to hear what you have to say.”
“I’m more popular than you,” countered Hearn, who then turned to Benn, 28, and said: “How are you feeling about smashing this geezer to pieces? Because I can’t wait.”
Eubank Jnr then offered his take on the boxers and where they stand in terms of their popularity in the UK, where their fight will do brisk business and will likely sell out the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when they meet on April 26. Tickets go on sale on Friday; the fighters are due to meet at a press conference in London on Thursday.
“The bad guy is back again,” Eubank Jnr, 35, smirked. “Still never cheats. Still never lies. Still never cuts any corners, yet he is still the bad guy. Isn’t it incredible?
“First time in boxing history, there are two bad guys. I’ve been booed into every British fight I’ve had since 2014 – just let that sink in for a second. That’s 11 years of being the bad guy. I’m a veteran at this stage; a super-villain if you will.
“I remember the first time I got booed into an arena, it was against a fighter called Billy Joe Saunders, another scumbag in the boxing industry, and it’s a cold, dark moment in your life when you realize you’re in an environment when thousands of people want to see you get hurt and lose. Even recently, walking into Wembley Stadium, AJ [Anthony Joshua] versus [Daniel] Dubois, I walk in, the cameras are on me, my face goes up on the screen, 80,000 booed me and that is after a career-best performance against Liam Smith when I beat him in a rematch.
“On April 26th, I’m probably going to be walking into the same environment, but it’s okay because I’m not going to be alone. There’s two bad guys in this fight and there’s one in me who has accepted his fate. I gave up on my dreams being the hero a long time ago; the other still wants and believes and dreams of being the good guy; of being a golden boy. That’s what I believe. You had it. You had the whole public behind you; everyone wanted you to win and to be the next big thing in boxing. I never had that. You know what I would have given to be in that situation you were in? You had it. You literally pissed it all away.”
Eubank Jnr claimed that Benn would try to use beating him to get back into “the good graces” of the British public, but said: “It’s not going to happen, kid. Sorry to break it to you.”
When Benn started to hit back with fighting talk, Eubank Jnr grinned: “Shivers. I love that.”
But Eubank Jnr was not done.
“You go online and I see that there is a split,” he went on. “I either see people say Conor Benn is going to knock Eubank early because he’s too young, too strong, too ferocious, too hungry, too angry, or Eubank wins on points because he’s too big… I’ve had 34 fights, 25 KOs, and I can only beat this guy because I’m bigger than him? No, I’m going to beat him because I’m a better fighter in every single department. He cannot beat me.”
Eubank Jnr was sill not done.
When DAZN’s Ade Oladipo introduced Eubank Jnr’s trainer Ronnie Davies, who worked with Eubank’s father Chris Snr throughout his championship career, as Ronnie Shields, Eubank corrected him. “Let’s put some respect on his name,” he snapped. “He’s done too much in the game to fuck up his name.”
“I think it’s great,” the veteran Brighton-based coach said, of the sons of the great British rivals being set to finally fight. “I’ve got the greatest respect for Nigel and his son. I’m old school, I don’t slag fighters off or their trainers – how can I not have a great respect for Nigel Benn when I was in the opposite corner of him for two major wars?
“And I think you’re going to see another major fight… Conor, Chris is too big for you, mate. And you haven’t boxed enough. And you haven’t fought in his level. He’s too big. And he is good. People don’t realize how good he is. May the best man win, which will be Eubank. A lot of people don’t know what he is. I do.”
Showing mutual respect, Nigel Benn and Davies shared an embrace moments before tempers flared.
While Davies has historically had input into Eubank Jnr’s career, it is likely that Eubank’s trainer Johnathon Banks will be the chief voice in his corner. He had the least to say out of everyone on stage, simply adding: “I think it will be a good fight.”
The Tottenham fight card is the first to be staged by The Ring, the boxing news outlet owned by the Saudi Arabian boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh.
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