Rumours have been circulating all week that Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr had been in talks to face one another this year and although Benn’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, shut down all speculation, Gareth A. Davies now claims the fight ‘is sealed’.
Davies was on TalkSport discussing the possibility of the bout with presenter Adam Catterall who started by saying:
“From what we’re hearing from our sources throughout the course of the week and despite promoters trying to put you off the scent of various things, this fight is quite a long way down the line of happening and will hopefully happen in the autumn of this year.”
Davies went one step further by saying the fight was ‘sealed’:
“I’m happy to say that this fight is going ahead.”
“I’m not announcing it obviously because it’s not my prerogative to do that, but my understanding is this fight is sealed.”
Conor Benn fights at 147lbs in the Welterweight division, whereas Eubank Jr is a Middleweight and fights at 160lbs but has fought as high as 168lbs.
Davies claims the fight is expected to go ahead at a catchweight:
“I understand he’s [Eubank Jr] going to come down to 155 pounds, that’s what i’m hearing.”
“It’s going to be made at about 155 pounds so he’s going to have to lose a little bit of weight to have that fight.”
“For me Eubank is the favourite.”
He added that these are the kind of fights that boxing needs to make:
“It’s a no-brainer in terms of nostalgia and going back three decades and bringing it up to the future – let’s make these fights now.”
The potential fight comes three decades after their dad’s epic grudge match battles for the WBO middleweight title. Eubank won their first encounter in 1990 by TKO in the ninth round before a controversial draw at Old Trafford three years later.