Some people in the boxing world feel a return clash between Chris Eubank Junior and Conor Benn is all but inevitable. The first fight really did deliver, this after over two years of build-up and hype, with Eubank Jr winning a 12-round thriller at the end of last month. Now, although both winner and loser have other big-fight options, talk of a rematch has moved to a stage where there is a potential date and venue.
Eddie Hearn, speaking with Sky Sports, says Saudi money man Turki Alalshikh has “put forward and proposed” the date of September 27th for the rematch, the venue to again be Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It was not only a great fight the first time around, the Eubank-Benn fight was also a great event, a great promotion. And of course, the fight pulled in over 1 million PPV buys on DAZN. Hearn has stated that he feels a rematch would be even bigger.
Eubank vs. Benn 2 at Spurs? September 27 being lined up
“I know September 27, back at Spurs, is a date that he [Turki Alalshikh] has put forward and proposed. We’re ready, really. We signed the contract for two fights,” Hearn said. “Conor’s just desperate to run it back. He feels like he’s going to improve a lot going into that fight. [It was] his first fight in 14, 15 months, at 160lbs. Look, they provided us with just a night we’ll never forget in so many ways. And both fighters deserve so much credit. We’d love to run it back.”
Too big, too small—or just too much money not to run it back?
There is of course the danger that a rematch would fail to match, let alone top the first fight, that the sheer interest would not be at the same level a second time around. And in addition, things such as an agreed weight for the rematch, and a possible rehydration clause would have to be agreed upon. Some people do say there is no way either fighter should box at middleweight again – that Benn is too small and that Eubank Jr is too big.
But money talks, and it figures to do so here. And in all honesty, even if a second fight between Eubank Jr and Benn turned out to be not as thrilling or as commercially successful as the first fight, it’s still a fight many people would absolutely tune in to see. And if Benn got his revenge, we would perhaps be looking at a trilogy.
