Chris Eubank Jr 32-2 (23) insists he doesn’t hate Conor Benn 21-0 (14) but has declared that their upcoming fight at the O2 Arena in London, England on October 8 is personal.
The fight will continue their family rivalry that started some 32 years ago when their fathers – Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr – began their two fight series.
The first bout ended in a ninth-round TKO victory for Eubank in 1990. Benn was leading by one point on two of the judges’ scorecards at the time, while the third judge had Eubank up by the same margin at the time of the stoppage. Their rematch three years later ended in a split draw.
“For him it’s a win-win and for me, if I lose to Conor Benn on October 8, I’m finished,” Eubank Jr said. “My goal is to fight for a world title in the next year. I can’t lose to Conor Benn and then expect to fight for a middleweight world title, it can’t happen.
“Nothing like this has ever happened before in the history of the sport, two legends went into a ring 30 years ago and inspired a nation. They became superstars and etched their names into not just boxing history, but British history. Now, 30 years later, their sons who have both made themselves in the sport of boxing are going to get in the ring.
“The Eubank and Benn name are going to go to war for the third time. Nothing like this has ever happened before and I don’t think it will happen again, ever. That’s why I took this fight. We have to uphold those names to the best of our ability, that’s where it makes it personal for me. I have to make sure the Eubank name stays on top of the Benn name.
“If I’m at 100% then it’s a public execution. I’ll be 60% on the night and that’ll be enough to do whatever I want with you. I don’t hate anybody, I would ever give anyone that type of power over me. I don’t even dislike Conor. But at the same time this fight is personal. The things his father put my father through, I can’t forget and I can’t forgive.
“I watched the mental toll and the injuries. Him going to hospital and losing half his tongue. I watched Nigel tell my father on national TV that he hated him. These are things I can’t forgive. This is a fight where our family names are on the line and we have to uphold them. That’s where it makes it personal.”
Kalle Sauerland, Wasserman’s head of global boxing, said: “It has been a long, long, road; not as long as some people think however. The starting gun was fired a little early when people thought the deal was done when we had not actually exchanged contracts yet, but we are dealing with a monster. Not a monster for the heavyweight world championship, not a unification, not a grudge match; we’re dealing with a family feud. A feud that started on the November 18, 1990 and one that made me fall back in love with boxing.
“The interest around what happened back then, 19 million viewing on terrestrial television, 500 million viewers around the world, you don’t need to sell it. At the same time, look at the gladiators we have up here. They have fought their way out of their father’s shadows in their own right. They sit up here now, and put it all on the line – family legacy, I don’t think there’s any title you could place on it that is bigger than that.”
