Former four-weight world champion, Roy Jones Jr, has responded to not being Chris Eubank Jr’s chosen trainer for his upcoming fight with Conor Benn.
Chris Eubank Jr, despite his father’s pleas not to, will fight Conor Benn next month at a catchweight of 157 lbs. Given that the event has been made and sold on the fact that the fighters fathers fought each other twice in the nineties, Eubank Jr opted to break from his trainer Jones Jr to ask his old man to be in the corner on the night.
It turns out Jones, who is three fights deep into his trainer – fighter partnership with Eubank, fully supports the decision for Senior to be in the corner. He told FightHype that the choice to have both fathers involved was the correct one to make.
“If it was me and he asked me what he should do, I would’ve told him to just that … Your fathers are the reason the fight is happening, and having the fathers there in the corners is going to make it even bigger for everybody. So if I was a fan, I’d definitely want to see Nigel in Conor’s corner and see Eubank Sr in Chris’ corner.”
“Why would I want to put my own values over something that’s bigger than that? The fathers are the reason that the fight is relevant, so I’m going to step back.”
“If it wasn’t for their fathers this fight wouldn’t even be talked about right now, because one’s a welterweight and one’s a middleweight.”
Having said all that, it’s unclear whether the elder Eubank will have any interest in taken part, given his staunch disapproval of the fight and weight cut in particular.
Regardless, it’s going ahead, and ‘RJ’ is confident that his man will win if he stays switched on and remembers his advice.
“I think Eubank wins the fight with no problem, but there are a few things he [will] have to do to make sure he keeps being in check. Eubank is probably more experienced, the bigger and the better fighter, so all my thoughts would be towards Eubank.
But there are some things Conor could do to cause problems, and I’ve already warned Chris of those things so I think he’ll be fine.”
“Keep the head down, be careful, watch for the big left hook – things like that.”
Eubank Jr faces Benn on October 8 in London – that is if he can make the contracted weight.