Chris Eubank Jr put in an at times most impressive, at times most frustrating to watch performance last night in beating bitter rival Liam Williams. Scoring four knockdowns, three of them legit, Eubank nevertheless had to settle for a wide points win. Eubank would dazzle, then he would coast; he would showboat. Maybe it was the lazy, frustrating to watch periods that convinced Conor Benn, a welterweight, to call out Eubank Jr.
“I fancy my chances at a catch-weight,” the unbeaten Benn wrote on social media after watching the Eubank-Williams fight last night.
It was of course huge all across the UK when Chris Eubank Snr and Nigel Benn went to war in their two massive fights back in the 1990s. Promoters today would kill for the kind of numbers those two fights pulled in (long before pay-per-view became the norm; the two fights going out on “free” TV here in the UK, with millions tuning in). But is a ‘Next Generation’ showdown a realistic possibility? Promoters the Sauerlands hope so, writing: “You know, somewhere, some special night in the not too distant future Eubank V Benn the next generation will happen. And we will be more than happy to make that happen,” in another tweet.
Benn could feasibly get up to the 154 pound mark or thereabouts, but could Eubank, who has boxed as a super-middleweight, get down that low? Would he even want to do so?
Eubank, who improved to 32-2(23) with the win over Williams, wants a world title chance at middleweight, having called out Gennady Golovkin, while Benn, 20-0(13) is highly ranked at 147 pounds and he is closing in on a world title fight there. Maybe, if or when one of these two sons of a legend wins a title, they could get it on. And the fight would certainly pull in a ton of fan attention – and money. But Benn simply looks to be too small for Eubank. What do you guys think?
Crazier fights have happened.