The way Chris Eubank Junior tells it, he turned down a multi-million £pound payday in order to get some payback instead. Speaking with Sky Sports, Eubank said he was offered “millions and millions and millions of pounds” to fight Conor Benn next, in a fight that would have taken place “overseas,” but he turned it down because he wants to get revenge over Liam Smith.
As fans know, Eubank and Benn were supposed to fight last October, this in a heavily hyped battle that had caught everyone’s attention. Then, shockingly, Benn was suspended for having failed two drug tests and the fight was off. But people still want to see Eubank Vs. Benn “The Next Generation,” and certain people still desperately want to promote it.
The fight was offered to Eubank, for later this year, but Eubank took a pass, this because he wants, in fact needs, to get revenge over Liam Smith before he can do anything else. Smith as we know stopped Eubank in the fourth round back in January and the two will box a rematch on July 1.
“I definitely considered fighting Conor Benn next,” Eubank told Sky Sports. “Because when somebody puts millions and millions and millions of pounds in front of you and offers you a fight, you consider it. You don’t just turn it down. I was offered a substantial sum to fight Conor Benn overseas and I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t the right time, it wasn’t the right place. The circumstances weren’t right. I want to get this guy [Smith] back for what he did and then I can move on.”
Credit to Eubank for acting like a fighter and not a businessman, as a proud fighter who wants to get back in there with a guy who knocked him out so as to get revenge. However, if Eubank is beaten by Smith for a second time, he may well be left kicking himself over the way he turned down a mega-money offer to fight Benn; the kind of payday that will never come his way again.
If Eubank does get his revenge on July 1, though, maybe that Benn fight will still happen. In fact, of course it will happen. Benn is said to be having his return later this year, against who we do not know. And if both Benn and Eubank get back to winning ways, the sheer amount of money attached to a fight between the two will almost certainly ensure that it happens.