Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn meet in a legacy fight later this year – but one man believes the clash could have been even bigger.
The two fighters will square off in a catchweight contest at the O2 Arena in London, exclusively live on DAZN worldwide and DAZN PPV in the UK & Ireland.
Presale tickets for O2 Priority Members went on sale On Thursday and sold out within seconds, confirming the demand for the fight is huge.
Eubank Jr. (32-2, 23 KOs) has boxed as high as super-middleweight, having held the IBO title at the weight, while Benn (21-0, 14 KOs) has been a custodian of the WBA Continental welterweight title.
It was initially thought that ‘The Destroyer’ would face the second generation at 156lbs, but Dan Rafael, the well-known boxing writer, tweeted that there will be an extra pound allowed on the scales, with a hefty $100,000-per-pound fine for each fighter if they come in above that weight.
It was in 1990 and again in 1993 that Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn fought two brutal world title fights.
Eubank Sr won the first one via ninth-round stoppage, picking up the WBO middleweight title in the process, but the second fight, which took place at super-middleweight, ended in a draw.
Now, 29 years on, minus a day, their sons will clash.
And Frank Smith, the CEO of Matchroom Boxing, has said that it could have been even bigger than he thinks it will be:
Smith, whose girlfriend is Eubank Jr’s sister and who promotes Benn alongside Eddie Hearn and Matchroom, when speaking to the Drive show on talkSPORT said:
“We knew it was big.
“It probably could have sold out a stadium and it was a shame because of the time of the year that it’s just a little bit late in the year in terms of weather, but we probably could have gone somewhere bigger.”
Smith has been part of the Matchroom organisation since his teenage years, working his way up the ladder and now being seen as the right-hand man to Eddie Hearn. The latter will be in his element at the opening press conference for the fight on Friday.
Smith added:
“We’ve been lucky enough to promote some of the biggest fights in the last 10 or 15 years and even further back than that as a business.
“You can feel the hype around this fight.
“It’s a fight that’s generated interest from 15-year-olds up to 60-year-olds. It resonates with all age groups because of their fathers and just the social media that we saw [when we announced the fight], the numbers around that, the numbers around the people requesting tickets and wanting early access.
“Maybe in the future, there will be a few more of these down the line. Maybe we can do two or three.”