Chris Eubank Sr has continued his condemnation of those involved in attempting to stage a fight between his son and Conor Benn.
The event, which was scheduled to take place on Saturday 8th October in London, was sensationally pulled at the last minute after news broke that Benn had failed a doping test. The change in plans – which has been referred to as a postponement rather than cancellation by the promoters – came after many statements from Chris Eubank Sr that the fight was too dangerous to go ahead.
The British boxing legend has now spoken to TalkSPORT’s Jim White. When he repeated his claim that the situation boiled down to attempted murder, White pointed out that it was a strong accusation. Senior didn’t agree.
“What do you mean strong? That’s not strong, that’s very polite for anyone who would attempt to murder my boy. Why is it strong? You don’t know – if you’re 33 years old, you can’t do what you used to do in your mid-20s, which is to lose weight and to be able to handle the loss of that weight.”
“To take a man down 3lb beneath the middleweight limit, to have him boil down to 157lbs is literally attempted murder – and they wanted me to be an accomplice to it. They were asking me to take money to come onto DAZN and be a part of it. They asked me to be in my son’s corner, they were trying to pay me to be in my son’s corner, they wanted me to be an accomplice to my son’s murder.”
The father had worried about his son ever since the fight was announced. He pleaded with Nigel Benn to join him in getting it cancelled, and even called on the public to boycott it. Despite all of that, Eubank Jr was adamant that he was making the weight safely. Eubank Sr pointed out that, although Junior wouldn’t listen to him and wanted to proceed, he ultimately had his way.
“I had to go behind the scenes in silence and help them make the right decision. And the right decision was made the day before the fight was to take place.”
It’s unclear if he’s suggesting he was directly involved in the postponement of the fight. As for the future plans, fans must wait for Benn to speak out on the doping results before anything is rescheduled – although it certainly seems that Eubank Sr will remain the fight’s strongest opposition should it come around once more.