On Saturday night at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jnr fought for the second time this year, seven months after their first encounter in April. This time it was Benn, the smaller man, who triumphed, winning a unanimous decision after 12 rounds and levelling the score at 1-1.
Whether the pair now proceed to a third fight – a decider – is anyone’s guess, but with the series tied, and with another 12 rounds in the bank, we can say this much: a lot of the mystery has gone. We know now what both can do, independently and together, and we have most of the answers we were apparently looking for – answers to questions we never even asked.
Here are just some of the things we learned on Saturday night.
1) Age matters
There are seven years between Conor Benn (29) and Chris Eubank Jnr (36) and in those seven years an active fighter can expect to pack in a lot of fights. A lot of fights means a lot of rounds and a lot of rounds means a lot of punishment and a lot of punishment means a lot of wear and tear. In other words, it is perhaps better to be the fighter who is seven years younger – the one spared those seven years of punishment – than the fighter seven years older whose experience is mitigated somewhat if their body no longer allows them to put it to good use in the presence of a younger man.
2) …So does making weight
Although Eubank Jnr claimed to have done the weight better the second time around, our eyes seldom deceive when it comes to such matters. In fact, because we know what a weight-drained fighter looks like, having seen enough of them over the years, we can detect all the telltale signs. We know that the lack of energy and speed on the part of Eubank Jnr on Saturday owed everything to his struggle making weight and we also know that seeing evidence of every vein in a boxer’s body is not always an indication of a healthy individual equipped to fight 12 rounds at a pace.
3) Benn can box
Credit where it’s due, Conor Benn surprised many on Saturday night with his ability to outbox Eubank Jnr from every possible range. Up close, he was stronger and smarter, and even at a distance, where Eubank Jnr had so much joy in April, Benn was sharp and accurate and totally in control. His jab, in particular, was extremely effective, as was his body attack, which included an array of jabs and right crosses often sent in a stabbing motion towards Eubank Jnr’s midriff. There was a patience to his work, too, which few would associate with Nigel Benn’s son. On Saturday, he was measured, calm, and strategic. He knew what he had to do to keep Eubank Jnr in his shell and he did it – over and over again.
4) Eubank Jnr was lucky to be fighting a smaller man
Whenever nailed by Benn’s right hand, which he was repeatedly, one couldn’t help but look at Eubank Jnr and think two things: one, that he was fortunate to have been blessed with his father’s chin, and two, that he was even more fortunate to be in the ring with a natural welterweight. Those two things combined allowed Eubank Jnr to weather various storms on Saturday, yet even then, there was only so much he could take. In the last round, for example, he was wobbled, hurt, and dropped, and seemingly on the brink of being stopped for the second time in his career. Lucky for him, though, Benn ran out of time. Perhaps the same is true of Eubank Jnr.
5) Neither man is world-class
We didn’t need to see them do it again to reaffirm what we learned back in April, but they did it again anyway and therefore we got our reminder. We were reminded, over the course of 12 rounds, that these two men, Benn and Eubank Jnr, are competing at a level or two below world-class, in their own kind of league (The League of Sons of Legends), and that for all the hysterics of commentators, pundits and promoters, some perspective is needed – always.
5) Benn is over it
“This is the end of the Benn-Eubank saga,” said Benn afterwards, having been awarded a unanimous decision. “Done and over. This ends here.” In fairness, it wasn’t just the win that prompted this stance. Benn had in fact said something similar during fight week, the suggestion being that win or lose he was fed up with spending time in Eubank Jnr’s company and now ready to move on. More than just that, he was fed up fighting at middleweight. He could see opportunities back at welterweight, his more natural weight, and is convinced, despite the scepticism of others, that he can still make 147 lbs (the welterweight limit) even though he has spent most of this year putting on muscle mass to compete at 160 lbs for Eubank Jnr.
6) Eubank Jnr had stuff going on
It wasn’t an excuse necessarily, but it can be construed as one if looking for less obvious reasons why Eubank Jnr wasn’t at the races on Saturday. Either way, Eubank Jnr, forever cryptic, has alluded to having personal problems in the last two months and suggested these problems may have resulted in him appearing only in body and not mind/spirit at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. “I’ve been through hell and back to get to this night,” he said in the ring, and who are we to question that statement’s veracity? Even if the floating of such an idea cleverly reopens a door Benn had earlier closed, nobody except Eubank Jnr knows how he was feeling going into Saturday’s fight. Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe his performance against Benn had nothing to do with age, weight, and deterioration after all.
7) Benn wants Barrios
To get specific: Conor Benn isn’t just keen to see the back of Chris Eubank Jnr, he already has another opponent in mind. That opponent, by all accounts, is Mario Barrios, the current WBC welterweight champion whose last fight was a draw against a 46-year-old Manny Pacquiao (with the one before that a draw against Abel Ramos). If that result suggests Barrios is one of the weaker world champions currently plying their trade, consider the rate at which various welterweights are calling him out as further proof.
9) Eubank Jnr proved his daddy right
After beating Conor Benn in April, Chris Eubank Jnr received the praise of his father, who called his son a “legend” and said that what he achieved that spring night was “legendary”. At first, Eubank Jnr squirmed under the weight of the compliment before later accepting it and admitting he had never expected his father, a former two-weight world champion, to speak of him in those terms. He knows as well as anyone that his father suffers no fools and resists hollow praise. He also knows that his father has for a while been telling the world that he wants his son, Chris Junior, to retire and that, by boiling himself down to fight Conor Benn, all he has been doing is self-harming for money. Was he wrong?
10) Benn is forgiven
The second Conor Benn’s face appeared on the big screen at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium one knew by virtue of the noise that followed that the events of October 2022 no longer really mattered. Cheered by most people inside the arena, Benn was back to being just the “son of Nigel” and a plucky young man trying to make his way in the toughest of sports. Gone, it appeared, were all memories of his two positive performance-enhancing drug tests for clomiphene. That was all in the past. It was time we moved on. We had a fight on the horizon. Good times never seemed so good. (So good, so good.)
