Chris Eubank Sr has pleaded with all involved for the fight between his son and Conor Benn to be pulled. Eubank Jr is going ahead because, according to him, his opponent is not on his level regardless of weight.
When the fight between Chris Eubank Jr and Benn was first announced, it reignited a decades-old family rivalry. In fact, that’s what it was sold on.
Many bought into the fact that both fathers would be going back-and-forth in the build-up, providing some boxing nostalgia for a modern day scrap. Nobody really considered what would happen should one of them be strongly opposed to the fight taking place.
That was until the elder Eubank drew on personal and professional heartbreak in an attempt to call off the fight. He believes his son is putting himself danger by agreeing to fight at a career-lowest weight.
In an exclusive interview with Gareth A Davies for The Telegraph, Chris Eubank Jr admitted that he would reconsider the risk of a 157 lbs catchweight if his opponent was different.
“As fighters we take chances, we gamble, and I don’t believe Conor is going to be able to take me into deep waters. Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t feel that that’s what he’s going to be able to do, so I agreed to this weight.”
“If I was going in there with someone that I considered a killer, I would never do anything like this, I just don’t see that pedigree or grade from Conor so I’m taking the risk of cutting to a weight I’ve never been before and I’m taking the risk of not being able to fully hydrate after the fight.”
Whilst still bullish about having the beating of Benn, Eubank Jr did admit that the weight cut was an unknown prospect.
“Is it a concern? I mean I guess so yeah, I’ve never had to do anything like this in my career so I don’t know how my body is going to react, I don’t know how I’m going to feel on the night, I know I’m not going to be 100 per cent.”
If the weight isn’t heavy on his shoulders, something else is – legacy.
“This is the biggest amount of pressure I’ve ever had in a fight, there’s just so many different types of pressure that are on me, first and foremost is the pressure of upholding my family name. What my father and Nigel Benn did is part of British sporting history. We had one win, one draw. I can’t muddy that. If I lose, I have said I’ll retire.”