Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn live up their names
One thing that happens, probably too often in boxing, is fights with a load of hype failing to live up to expectations.
However, on Saturday night, Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn most certainly did not follow that script, as they delivered arguably one of the best domestic fights in British boxing history.
Over 30 years on from their fathers’ second fight, many were under the assumption that the clash between the two sons would be good, but not as good as either of the clashes between Benn Sr and Eubank Sr.
Again, the script got ripped up.
From the first bell — well, from the first presser, to be fair — it was clear these two had bad intentions.
A build-up overshadowed by Eubank Jr slapping Benn with an egg, and then a fight week dominated by questions over Eubank Jr’s weight, which resulted in him paying $500,000 for weighing in above the 160lbs limit, meant the hype for this fight was unlike anything we’d seen before in British boxing.
Both fighters started fast. Benn looked to feint with his feet to find a way inside that huge reach advantage of Eubank Jr’s, whilst the bigger man looked to establish his jab and land heavily when Benn did find a way inside.
In round three came the first notable moment. With Benn fighting calculatedly reckless, he caught Eubank with a peach of a right hand that buckled the legs of the former British middleweight champ.
He recovered well though, and in round four, Benn’s pace seemingly started to slow slightly, and Eubank capitalised on that to get into his rhythm, with his jab now offsetting Benn and starting to frustrate him.
This was the start of the trend: both fighters looking like they were in control, then quickly looking like they were out of it in the next round.
It was a back-and-forth tussle, swinging this way and that, so much drama.
Both were landing shots that could potentially make a horse dizzy, and both were taking them like they’d been hit with a pillow.
It was a thing of violent beauty.
Benn was the more explosive, but Eubank was the more relentless. The rounds were proving near impossible to score with any confidence for either fighter.
With the fight now heading into the latter rounds, which noone expected it to reach, it was an all-out slugfest.
Eubank was pushing Benn back onto the ropes, and both were countering each other with some huge shots on the inside.
The number of shots from both that whistled past their chins by millimetres — shots that could have even got the attention of a prime GGG — was incredible.
Eubank was bruised and bloodied, but he was seemingly taking over in the fight in the latter rounds. But as mentioned earlier, when he seemed to be getting full control, Benn fought back.
With the final bell ringing, no one had a Scooby-Doo what the cards were going to look like.
116-112, 116-112, and 116-112. All three judges were in agreement that Chris Eubank Jr had done enough to win.
A seriously close fight that neither fighter deserved to lose and, if anything, both of their stocks will go through the roof off the back of those performances tonight.
The pure beauty of this is that the rematch will now somehow surpass what we have just witnessed. With a clause in place for either fighter, Benn will likely activate it sooner rather than later as he looks to bounce back from the first defeat of his career.
Here’s a thought for you though… Fury vs Joshua and Eubank vs Benn 2 in September. Make it happen, Uncle Turki.
On the undercard, Aaron McKenna proved just too good for the experienced former super-welterweight champ Liam Smith, with Anthony Yarde making it back-to-back victories over Lyndon Arthur in a tight affair.
Viddal Riley dethroned Chev Clarke to win the British Cruiserweight Title, whilst Chris Billam-Smith settled the beef once and for all with Brandon Glanton with a classy points win.
What a night for British boxing!
