Time is running out for Chris Eubank Jnr-Conor Benn

GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA  – Eddie Hearn expects Conor Benn to fight Mario Barrios if terms aren’t agreed for Benn-Chris Eubank Jnr in the coming week. 

The promoter remains in discussions with Boxxer, who promote Eubank Jnr, and Barrios’ promoters Premier Boxing Champions about potential contests with Benn.

Benn became free to resume his career in Britain when the National Anti-Doping Panel cleared him with regard to the two failed drugs tests in 2022 that forced the cancellation of his date with Eubank Jnr in the UK.

He twice tested positive for the banned substance clomifene – and while he consistently maintained his innocence, he was inactive for 15 months until returning to defeat Rodolfo Orozco in September 2023 in America. 

Victory over Peter Dobson followed in February 2024, and again in the US, but it took until the most recent development for such a big fight to again become possible – and Hearn has warned their rivals that they are running out of time.

“If we’re going to make the Eubank fight it’ll be made by the end of the weekend,” he told BoxingScene. “You’ve got The Ring Magazine awards in London – everybody’s in London. 

“We’re only talking about that fight happening in the UK. I’ve found it very difficult to make that fight. When we first made the fight, they didn’t really hate each other. They weren’t friends. They’d both got famous fathers – it made a lot of sense. Now no one wants to give an inch, and it’s so tedious at times.

“I’ve been there before. [Carl] Frampton-[Scott] Quigg. [Amir] Khan-[Kell] Brook. AJ [Anthony Joshua]-[Tyson] Fury. It’s so difficult to get everybody to agree. I’ve been speaking to Ben Shalom every day for the last seven days, and Turki Alalshikh likes the fight as well – maybe he can get everybody together to make it happen. But I think if we’re going to, it’ll be the next seven days.

“[I’ve been] speaking to PBC and saying, ‘Look, if we don’t fight Eubank, we want to fight Barrios’. Conor wants to fight Barrios. I think that’s actually his preference. But the money – the difference between the two… One gives you a shot at a world title, one, basically, gives you a great life – forever. But I’ve said to Conor, ‘If you do lose, you can come back at 147, get a win, and then fight Barrios’. But, maybe we can make the Barrios fight in the UK – and if we did, I think he’d win.”

The chairman of Matchroom – who is in the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, for Jai Opetaia-David Nyika – was then asked which of the two contests he considered likelier, and he responded: “I’d say Barrios, just because of how hard it is to get [Eubank Jnr] to agree to anything. But normally I’d say Eubank, because of the money, but it just doesn’t seem… 

“Don’t forget, 160’s not great for Conor Benn, and before it was at 157. Everyone moaned that we were bringing Eubank down three pounds, but no one moaned that we were bringing Conor up 10. Now he’s jumping up 13lbs. It gives you a massive physical disadvantage in this fight, but it’s still a 50-50 fight. We’ve got to get it right – but it’s a monster fight.”

A date between the 28-year-old Benn and Barrios, the 29-year-old WBC welterweight champion, would be for Barrios’ title. 

Eubank Jnr, 35, defeated Kamil Szeremeta in October before being confronted by Benn. He had by then also been critical of Matchroom and their chief executive Frank Smith and Queensberry Promotions’ Frank Warren; the tension that exists between Matchroom and Boxxer represents a further barrier in the way of the grudge match finally being made.

“I don’t think a lot things get to Frank [Smith],” said Hearn. “Eubank was put up to that – it was very premeditated by his whole team. I think Frank Warren’s dealing with that still, so I’ll leave it to that lot.”