Chris Eubank has claimed he will do anything in his power to stop his son’s fight with Conor Benn from going ahead.
Eubank Jr is scheduled to face Benn in a 157lbs catchweight contest at London’s O2 Arena on 8 October, almost 30 years after the fighters’ fathers went head to head for the second time.
Eubank, 56, stopped Nigel Benn in 1990 before their rematch three years later ended as a split draw. While the Britons’ rivalry is one of the most storied in their nation’s boxing history, Eubank does not wish to see his son’s own rivalry with Conor Benn get off the ground.
“If you have a child and someone’s trying to actually take that child away from you, and do something wrong to that child, as a dad you wouldn’t let them. That’s all I’m doing,’ Eubank told The Daily Mail, expressing concern over the catchweight, which will see Eubank Jr, 32, move down in weight and Benn, 25, move up.
“I’ve given him my direction; if he doesn’t want to follow it, he will be dragged along,” Eubank continued, “but he will do what is right for him. He is coming down 1oz below 160lbs, which cannot happen on my watch.
“This is modern day ‘gladiating’, this is not a play thing for the audience. We have to be strict, otherwise lives are put in danger, and my son’s life cannot be put in danger. I’ve already lost one, it can’t happen again,” Eubank said, referencing his son Sebastian’s death in July last year.
The Mail reports that Eubank made the comments on a Zoom call that also featured Conor and Nigel Benn.
“All I know was: The weight was agreed,” the younger Benn said, before Eubank urged him to keep fighting at welterweight rather than taking on his son, who typically competes at middleweight but has also fought at super-middleweight.
“If your dad won’t protect my son, if they won’t allow me to protect my son, you protect him,” Eubank told Benn.
Nigel Benn reportedly then asked Eubank: “So, you’re putting your foot down – saying to your son, at 32 years old: This fight is not happening”? “Absolutely,” was Eubank’s response.
A representative of Eubank Jr told The Independent on Tuesday (13 September) that the fight “is still going ahead”.
