Carl Froch wonders whether the rematch between Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn will capture the imagination in the same way the first contest did.
Eubank Jnr edged Benn in a brutal war in April and they fight again at the same venue, London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, on November 15.
The bout was years in the making. Firstly, their famous fathers – Chris Snr and Nigel – had a wild two-fight rivalry in the 1990s, and then the sons were due to fight in 2022 before clomifene was detected in Benn’s system and their date that October was cancelled.
“I think if I wasn’t a fight fan, I wouldn’t know this fight’s happening,” Froch said ahead of the return. “The first one, you couldn’t miss it and every time you put social media on, someone was talking about it. Now it’s next week…
“Maybe I’m missing something, but it hasn’t got that feel the first one had. We’ve been there, seen it, done it now, and you could argue it was a great fight, you want to see it again – of course you want to see it again – but for me there’s not as much at stake. The only thing that was at stake was the name and the legacy. Chris Eubank secured that by beating him. That’s done, then.
“Now you’d like to see Conor Benn move on with his career at his correct weight – this is a guy who’s coming up, giving up the advantage in terms of size, and it would be nice to see Conor move on. But he’s gonna earn a few quid. We’re prizefighters so we want to earn money; he’s maximising the money before he moves back down to the weight he should be at. Chris Eubank Jnr, I dare say, will retire after this, win or lose, unless it’s that good Benn wins and then we get the trilogy. God help us.”
Froch is an International Boxing Hall of Famer who had his share of wars in his gruelling 33-2 (24 KOs) career. He boxed the likes of Lucian Bute, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Ward, Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor and George Groves.
“The first fight was great,” Froch, speaking at a press event for sportscasting.com, acknowledged. “It had everything… the build-up… Snr climbing out of that Rolls Royce [to walk to the ring with Jnr after a period of estrangement] – I kind of knew it was coming – but it delivered. In terms of the level of the fight, none of the world champions at 160 are going to be worried about either of them two, let’s be honest, but the fight delivered because it was exciting; watchable; it ebbed and flowed; the right man got his hand raised.
“Can Eubank do the same in the rematch at [the age of] 36? I think that [first fight] would have took it out of him. He got clipped early and he had to really work hard and dig deep in the last three, four rounds, and that takes a bit out of you at that age. When you’re younger, you grow from it; you learn from it; you come back a bit stronger. But when you’re older, it takes a bit out of you. Conor Benn’s getting better, he’s improving and he’ll learn a lot from that first fight.”
Benn, 29, is 23-1 (14 KOs), and had been inactive going into the first bout, with three fights in three years. But the brutality of the first fight, coupled with the additional miles on the veteran’s body, tip the scales to a more central position, reckons Froch.
“This fight for me is a lot closer, if Conor can catch him, calm him down a little bit on the outside and not rush, like he was rushing his work, with his head movement and short steps, and not wasting that energy unnecessarily for 12 rounds, if he can calm that down – he needs Tony Sims in his ear to settle him down in sparring – I think there could be a different decision in this one,” Froch added. “You’ve got to make Eubank the favorite, because he’s bigger and he’s naturally bigger, and usually a good big ‘un beats a good little ‘un and all that, but in this case, it’s a close one.
“It might be a bit controversial to say this, I don’t think it’s a fight that needs to happen. I think we’ve seen it. We’ve seen the fight, it was great, the right man won, we kind of put it to bed. No world titles. They’ve both got losses on their records. What’s at stake? Nothing. “The guys are just earning a load of money. [But] it was a great fight.”
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
