Chris Eubank Jr. predicted today at the final press conference that he’s going to beat Conor Benn like a drum on Saturday, just like he did last April, and take his soul in their rematch at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.
(Credit: Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing)
Eubank Jr.’s Soul-Snatch Warning
If Eubank Jr’s prediction comes true, it’ll be a major disappointment for promoter Eddie Hearn. He’s hoping Benn will redeem himself so he can plug him in for some big fights at 147. Another loss would send him back down to welterweight, forcing an expensive, time-consuming rebuild job.
Benn (23-1, 14 KOs) will need to make massive changes in his game for him to have a chance of winning the rematch on Saturday. Last April, he was swinging for the fences, hoping to score a one-punch knockout as he’d done against the lower-level welterweights that he’d built his record on. What he discovered is that he needed more to beat Eubank Jr., and he had nothing more to offer.
Chris Eubank Jr: “You’ve implemented a weight class,” said Eubank Jr. at today’s final press conference.
Conor Benn: “No, that was your team.”
Eubank Jr: “Right, it was my team that wanted a weight restriction [rolls eyes].
Benn: “You’re getting paid an absolute fortune to fight a welterweight. I don’t know what you’re moaning about. Go fight [Carlos] Adames. You want to fight a welterweight.”
Eubank Jr: “I’m going to do exactly what I did to you in April. I’m going to take your soul.”
Benn: “For a middleweight, you punch like a fairy.”
What Benn needs to do is force Eubank Jr. into a fast enough pace to wear him down. Can he do that? It’s doubtful because last time it was Eubank Jr. who wore down Benn and beat the brakes off of him in the last four to six rounds.
Eubank’s Late-Round Blueprint
Eubank Jr. (35-3, 25 KOs) proved his mastery last April over Benn (23-1, 14 KOs), beating him by a 12-round unanimous decision in a fight that proved compelling for only the first half. In the second half, Conor took a bad beating and was close to being stopped several times.
The two meet on Saturday in a business-level fight. The first fight was one-sided enough to make a rematch pointless. The 620,000 PPV buys it generated are the real reason we’re seeing a second fight between the two offspring of the British greats, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr.
