Trainer Tony Sims says that in the moments before Conor Benn fought Chris Eubank in April, he was as in the dark as anyone over whether Eubank’s father would attend the fight.
Sims, who has trained Benn throughout his career, is an old friend of Benn’s father, Nigel, and the pair sparred together back in the 1990s.
And although Sims was uncertain whether Eubank would show, Benn told him to expect his old rival to be there.
Benn and Eubank Snr shared two huge fights in the 1990s.
“I didn't know at all,” said Sims. “The first kind of bit I seen of him was getting out of the car, the same as everybody else. But Nigel said to me earlier on in the night, ‘Chris will definitely be here tonight.’ And I went, ‘But there ain't been no sign of him until now. He weren't on the way in.’ So I said, ‘I find that hard to believe, Nigel.’
“Nigel went and said, ‘Watch, he’ll turn up.’ And he was right. Nigel was right – he did turn up. But listen, it made the event spectacular then, him turning up. It was like he was the last piece of the jigsaw they needed for that event and that fight. And it was great that he turned up for his son as well.”
Eubank Snr and Jnr were estranged for several years but reunited that night in April. Father and son were together, side by side, at the press conference for tonight’s fight and they have co-starred in a BBC documentary in the build-up during which Junior revealed to his father that he was due to become a grandfather to twins.
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.
