That’s all for tonight. Thanks for following along with us and be sure to check out the full report of tonight’s main event here.
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“Maybe 14 months out of the ring played a factor,” a downcast Conor Benn says. “That’d be the only thing. Just maybe inactivity. But apart from that, I felt like it was a close fight. I’m not going to say I think I won it and all that. I’ve got to watch it back. I know it was close. I stayed on the ropes maybe a bit too long. He worked harder towards the end. I’m going to have to watch it back, but I enjoyed it.”
As for Benn’s future plans, he’s got a couple things in mind.
“I believe I can fight at 160,” he says. “If we don’t do the rematch, which I’d love to avenge that loss, I’d go back down to welterweight and win the WBC world title. So it’s either [WBC welterweight champion] Mario Barrios or the rematch with Eubank Jr. Whichever happens next I’ll be content with.”
“I didn’t know he had what [Benn] had in him,” Eubank Jr says. “I really didn’t. I thought I would break him early. I underestimated him. I didn’t train for a fight like that. I didn’t know he had that in him. He’s never shown that. But then again, he’s never had to show it. He had to show it tonight. So did I.”
The interview then swings to Chris Eubank Sr, the proud father.
“He couldn’t move around the ring and so he had to stand toe to toe,” Eubank Sr says. “I mean, that is legendary behavior in the ring. Legendary. And this, Conor Benn, as I said, Conor Benn is an extraordinary fighter. He’s gone pear-shaped somewhere, but an extraordinary fighter. And you saw that here tonight.”
Eubank Sr adds: “That’s my son. That’s right. That’s why I’m here. I was always going to be here.”
“I knew I was capable of that,” Eubank Jr says. “I just needed someone to bring someone to bring that out of me. And I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t expect that he’d be the guy to do that. But the fact that our fathers did what they did all those years ago, it brings out a different soul and a different spirit into you. And that’s what we’ve both shown here tonight.”
He adds: “I pushed through. There’s a lot of things that have been going on in my life that I’m not gonna I’m not going to get into right now, but I’m happy to have this man [Chris Eubank Sr] back with me. And we’ve held the family name like we said we were gonna do. Onwards and upwards.”
Chris Eubank Jr beats Conor Benn by UD 12
And the winner is … Chris Eubank Jr! He’s just won a 12-round unanimous decision over Conor Benn in their middleweight grudge match. All three judges scored it 116-112, as did the Guardian.
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Round 12
Both men completely letting it fly over the last three minutes. Non-stop power shots to the head and body from both sides. And now Eubank Jr has Benn trapped up against the ropes. The referee is taking a close look. Benn taking some massive shots here. He’s throwing back but he’s absorbing a lot of damage. The bell rings and the crowd of 65,000 gives them a standing ovation. We’re breathless. A rematch is all but guaranteed. But before that, we’ll wait on the judges’ scores ...
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 10-9 Benn (Eubank Jr 116-112 Benn)
Round 11
Neither man giving an inch for another three minutes. Eubank Jr breathing heavy and fighting on sheer will but throwing and landing more, just. A great fight.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 10-9 Benn (Eubank Jr 106-103 Benn)
Round 10
Benn connects with a lunging hook and Eubank Jr is hurt! He felt that! Benn lunges in looking to close with show with wild, looping shots to the head and body. But Eubank Jr comes back strong in the closing seconds. More extraordinary action but Benn clearly got the better of the exchanges.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 9-10 Benn (Eubank Jr 96-94 Benn)
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Round 9
The fighters stand toe to toe for most of the ninth round, sending the crowd into delerium. Relentless pressure from both men. Eubank Jr is cut over his right eye with about a minute to go. It’s not clear whether it was caused by a punch of an accidental clash of heads. (Update: it was a clash of heads.)
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 10-9 Benn (Eubank Jr 87-84 Benn)
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Round 8
Eubank Jr is coming on strong but Benn is walking through some of his most ferocious offerings. More incredible two-way action. The round ends with Eubank Jr battering Benn along the ropes. His size and composure is winning out.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 10-9 Benn (Eubank Jr 77-75 Benn)
Round 7
Eubank Jr detonates a flush right uppercut on Benn’s chin but the smaller man takes it remarkably well. Eubank Jr’s power shots are finding their target with greater frequency. They’re trading hellfire in the middle of the ring. Extraordinary chins on both men. On balance Eubank Jr throwing and landing more at this stage.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 10-9 Benn (Eubank Jr 67-66 Benn)
Round 6
Eubank Jr continuing to jab effectively, but Benn is countering it so well. Another very close round.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 10-9 Benn (Eubank Jr 57-57 Benn)
Round 5
Eubank Jr is much bigger but Benn is much quicker. The weight cut appears to have affected the Eubank Jr’s workrate and quality, but he’s controlling the pace here. Benn lunges in and connects with a left hand. Benn lands a body shot. He’s throwing and landing more. Another close round.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 9-10 Benn (Eubank Jr 47-48 Benn)
Round 4
Another active start as the fighters exchange punches in the middle of the ring from the bell. Eubank Jr is putting his punches together now and Benn is throwing back. Eubank Jr lands an uppercut right down the middle. Chants of “Eu-bank! Eu-bank!” ring through the stadium. Benn lands a huge right hand but Eubank Jr took it well. A firefight breaks out in the final seconds with both men taking shots to the head and body.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 10-9 Benn (Eubank Jr 38-38 Benn)
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Round 3
Both men open the third trading jabs in the center of the ring. Benn finding greater success with his speed and twitchy in-and-out movement. And Benn lands a counter off a jab that hurts Eubank Jr! Eubank Jr looks hurt as he ties up looking to buy some time. Eubank Jr recovers but Benn is getting the better of the exchanges, using feints to keep his opponent off balance. A big round for Benn.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 9-10 Benn (Eubank Jr 28-29 Benn)
Round 2
Eubank Jr is snapping that jab with great effect. Benn still looking a little wild and off balance. The pace has slowed from that frenetic first. Benn lands a left hook while lunging inside but Eubank Jr takes it well. More crisp jabbing from Eubank Jr. Benn now throwing wildly but landing a few shots as a trickle of blood begins to flow from Eubank Jr’s nose. Benn nicks the round on his increased workrate (and Eubank Jr’s passivity).
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 9-10 Benn (Eubank Jr 19-19 Benn)
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Round 1
There’s the bell! Eubank Jr, who looks so much bigger than Benn in the ring, tags his foe with a left hook early! An agressive start from both fighters. Benn looks wild and a bit shaken as he tries to close the distance. Eubank Jr is working beautifully with the jab. Benn barrels in wildly with a left hand and a right hook but the composed Eubank Jr blocks them calmly. A sharp right hand by Benn lands but Eubank Jr shakes his head as if to say it didn’t hurt. Tense, active start with Eubank Jr getting the better of the action.
Guardian’s unofficial score: Eubank Jr 10-9 Benn (Eubank Jr 10-9 Benn)
Updated
Here we go. The final instructions have been given by referee Victor Loughlin, the seconds are out and we’ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here!
And now here comes Chris Eubank Jr. He’s taking his good old time leaving the dressing room, happy to let Benn wait beneath the lights. At last Eubank enters the arena as Tina Turner’s The Best plays before an orchestral version of Dr Dre’s Still DRE. Not much longer now.
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Michael Buffer has taken his position at the center of the ring. God Save the King plays with 65,000 fans in full throat. And now it’s time for the ringwalks. And Conor Benn makes his entrance first to the Fugees’ Ready or Not then Conroy Smith’s Dangerous, complete with a backing choir. He’s wearing an all-black robe with sequined trim. Calm, composed, all business.
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Anthony Yarde UD 12 Lyndon Arthur
Anthony Yarde has won a close but uncontroversial unanimous verdict over Lyndon Arthur in the final undercard bout. The judges’ scores were 115-113 and 116-112 (twice). It’s Sweet Caroline time in North London. We should be seeing Eubank Jr and Benn making their entrances shortly.
The Tottenham Stadium looks almost full as the main undercard fight between Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur reaches the halfway stage. This is a 60,000-plus crowd that currently seems more enthused by the musical breaks than the boxing. I am not sure too many were watching closely, but they missed young Aaron McKenna utterly dominate a proud old fighter in Liam Smith. McKenna calls himself ‘The Silencer’ and I’ve followed him closely for a few years and been with him in dressing rooms before fights. I always knew he was good; but tonight he was outstanding as he won a near shutout victory and knocked Smith down in the last round. He has moved up to a significant level – not that the Tottenham crowd cared much. They will only really start making noise once the undercard is over.
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Chris Eubank Jr has successfully made weight on fight day, avoiding a second costly penalty ahead of tonight’s long-awaited grudge match against Conor Benn.
The British rivals both satisfied the rehydration clause in their contract, which required them to weigh no more than 170lb on Saturday morning. Eubank Jr tipped the scales at 169.4lb, while Benn – the naturally smaller man – came in comfortably lighter at 165lb, according to event promoters.
It’s a relief for Eubank Jr after Friday’s hiccup, when he came in half an ounce over the official middleweight limit of 160lb. That minor miss triggered a hefty fine of £375,000 ($500,000), paid directly to Benn under the terms of their agreement.
Having cleared today’s threshold, Eubank Jr wasted little time declaring himself ready. “Fight day weigh-in complete. Rehydration restriction is over. Now all that’s left to do is rock up to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tonight & make history,” he posted on social media.
The weigh-in drama added yet another twist to a rivalry already years in the making – a family feud passed down from their fathers, Chris Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn, who fought two ferocious battles in the early 1990s.
More than 65,000 fans will pack into a sold-out stadium tonight for the latest chapter, one that has survived cancelled dates, drug test controversies and now a fine in the eleventh hour.
At around 8.15 the muted hum that had settled over the stadium was replaced by a huge cheer as the big screens dotted around this vast arena lit up with a surprising sight. Chris Eubank Sr stepped out of a suitably fancy car to the delight of a suddenly animated crowd that could not quite believe the old fighter had changed his mind and decided to attend in support of his estranged son. Those cheers then turned into guttural roar as Eubank Jr appeared to greet his father.
They walked together in a magnificent sight … and it made such a stirring contrast from the words Eubank Jr had said to me last week when I interviewed him: “He’s obviously spoken out about how he is against this fight and wants to stop it. So it looks like I’ll be on my own on the night.”
He also spoke movingly at a press conference this week when he said the pain of his weight-cut was nothing compared to the seeming breakdown of his relationship with his dad: “My own father, a man I idolized for my entire life, doesn’t speak to me. We haven’t spoken for years and he thinks I’m a disgrace. These things are what pain is to me.”
Of course Eubank had already told me that he and his dad had talked in early March … but the conversation had been “up and down”. But all the anguish of missing weight yesterday, and facing another rehydration weigh-in this morning, was forgotten as the Eubanks were reunited. No one seemed to care if it was a canny ploy – it looked and felt like a genuine reconciliation.
Five minutes later, the backstage cameras cut to the sight of Benn in his underwear. The sustained booing that erupted told its own story.
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A couple of gamers are posted up near ringside, locked into Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves – the video game lending its name (and budget) to tonight’s event. Brave new world. Boxing’s collision with gaming sponsorships was probably inevitable, but seeing controllers in hand just a few feet from the ring while awaiting the co-main event still feels like an odd glimpse of the future.
Meanwhile, Matchroom’s social media team appears to be leaning in to the chaos.
Chaos 🤯 Billy Joe Saunders is DENIED access to Eubank's changing rooms to inspect the hand wrapping and all hell nearly breaks loose 😲#EubankBenn pic.twitter.com/u3h1KYqqzU
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) April 26, 2025
Aaron McKenna UD 12 Liam Smith
Aaron McKenna has just won a one-sided unanimous decision over Liam Smith. The 25-year-old Irish middleweight dominated the action from the opening bell, punctuating a brilliant coming-out performance with a knockdown in the 12th round. The judges’ scores were 119-108, 117-109 and 118-108.
One more undercard fight before the main event: a scheduled 12-round light heavyweight scrap between Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur.
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Chris Eubank Jr has made his way into Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, accompanied by a face few expected to see: his father, Chris Eubank Sr.
Their fractured relationship has been a quiet backdrop to this fight. In recent months, Eubank Sr has publicly criticised his son’s behavior, calling him “a disgrace” after the infamous egg-slapping incident. Eubank Jr, for his part, spoke this week about the deep personal pain of their estrangement.
Seeing them together tonight is a small but significant development. It may not erase years of distance, but it suggests a willingness, at least for one evening, to close ranks.
WOW! EUBANK SNR IS HERE! 😵#EubankBenn pic.twitter.com/FUm5hMFc1W
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) April 26, 2025
Preamble
Some fights are for world titles. Some are for pride. And some, like tonight’s encounter between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn, are fought for something even more intangible: family honor, old grievances and the vague promise of generational closure.
More than 65,000 have filled Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to witness two sons shoulder the unfinished business of their fathers, who once battered each other into British boxing folklore. No belts are at stake. Only legacies, and the looming specter of a two-way rematch clause.
The build-up has been predictably chaotic. The egg incident (don’t ask), the scrapped 2022 fight after Benn’s positive drug tests (later pinned, creatively, on an overzealous diet of eggs), the fines for slapstick misbehaviour, and now a £375,000 penalty after Eubank Jr failed to make weight by half a mouthful of water. In boxing, these things pass for tradition as much as farce.
At 35, Eubank Jr carries the experience, the size and the scars. His final press conference turned unexpectedly raw when he spoke about the death of his brother and his estrangement from Chris Eubank Sr, who has publicly disowned him in recent months. “Pain,” he said, is not a rehydration clause; it’s being asked by your nephew why his father isn’t coming home.
Benn, 28, enters as the lighter, angrier man, keen to shed the baggage of the doping scandal that torpedoed their first meeting. He’s been fighting (and winning) in hotel ballrooms in America while clearing his name, but this is another world entirely: a giant stadium, a global spotlight, and a family name that, for better or worse, guarantees attention.
Neither man has held a major world title. Neither has entirely stepped out of the long shadows cast by Chris Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn. But for all the absurdities of the past few years, there is real peril and real intrigue tonight. Conor Benn fights like a man trying to punch a hole through history. Eubank Jr, sometimes infuriatingly composed, sometimes thrillingly reckless, fights like a man who still wants to prove something – even if it’s only to himself.
The promoters, classically understated as ever, have billed it as a “British Hagler-Hearns”. That remains to be seen. The hope is that, somewhere beneath the lawsuits, late-night weigh-ins and £100,000 eggs, there’s still a proper fight lurking.
Stay with us for live updates, round-by-round coverage and, knowing this lot, probably a few more plot twists before the final bell.
How to watch or stream Chris Eubank Jr v Conor Benn
The Guardian will have round-by-round updates, analysis and instant reaction in this space.
In the UK and Ireland, the fight will be broadcast on DAZN Pay-Per-View at a cost of £19.99 for existing subscribers or £27.98 for new subscribers. Sky Sports Box Office will also carry it for £19.95. talkSPORT Radio will provide live audio commentary for free.
In the US and Canada, the fight will be broadcast on DAZN Pay-Per-View at a cost of $24.99.
DAZN is streaming the fight live in more than 200 countries.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Barney Ronay’s take on tonight’s grudge match.
