Chris Eubank Jr says he is “far too elite” to be beaten by Conor Benn as he looks forward to a potential “one of a kind” showdown with his British rival.
Eubank and Benn were due to fight in October 2022, only for the bout to be cancelled after Benn tested positive for banned substance clomifene.
Benn, currently under a provisional suspension, has insisted he will eventually be cleared to return to the ring.
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Benn says he is facing the ‘hardest fight’ of his career to defend his integrity as he returns to the ring while awaiting a British Boxing Board of Control hearing into his drugs ban next month
Eubank Jr, whose father Chris beat and then drew with Benn’s dad Nigel during two blockbuster fights in the 1990s, expects Conor Benn to have his licence to box reinstated before they fight themselves.
After the fallout from their cancelled bout, he is now eager to “punish” his fellow Brit if they finally meet, although he is adamant Benn will raise his game for a contest he says will be one of the best the sport has seen, due to the competitors’ personal history and their fathers’ in-ring classics over 30 years ago.
Eubank, who returned from 13 months of inactivity with a seventh-round knockout of Kamil Szeremeta on October 12, said of Benn that he wants to “punish him so badly that he doesn’t want to box again after he gets in the ring with me”.
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Benn invaded the ring after Eubank Jr’s impressive victory over Kamil Szeremeta and vowed to stop him within three rounds!
“The kid is full of confidence but he has never been in there with an elite-level fighter, a technician, somebody who knows how to hurt him.
“It’s all well and good him saying what he can do but we are not going to know how tough, how great Conor Benn is until he is in there with somebody like me who can really test him.
“I think what I bring to the table is far too elite, far too superior in terms of my experience, skill, power, speed. I just think everything is going to be too much for him. He will tell you different but I think it is going to be a serious wake-up call for him.”
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Eubank Jr returned to the ring in style as he dropped Szeremeta four times on the way to a seventh-round stoppage
Eubank says a long-awaited showdown with Benn – which he insists Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi’s General Entertainment Authority, is intent on making in early 2025 – is even bigger now and that he is in full control, vowing not to meet his nemesis at catchweight.
He added: “[When the fight was postponed] I was devastated, p****d off, so angry but looking back it was one of the best things that could have happened in my career.
“Now the fight is three times bigger, the pay is quadruple, the terms are all on my side. I don’t have promotors taking a piece of the pie, people underpaying me.
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Eubank Jr strode to the ring to his usual Dr Dre theme tune and vaulted the ropes in Riyadh
“He has no leeway, no power. He forfeited all of that.
“There is no compromise. The fight is at middleweight and it’s take it or leave it – and he can’t leave it.”
Eubank Jr continued: “The fight will be one of a kind. It has never happened in boxing.
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Eubank Jr had some choice words for rival Benn after the pair clashed at the fighter hotel
“No two fighters have had fathers who were world champions and fought in massive fights 30-odd years ago with the entire country watching.
“Now the two sons have grown up to become elite-level fighters and are going to fight. It has never happened and will never happen again. It is a massive deal.
“Fighting me, a sworn enemy in a fight broadcast around the world that could be at Wembley in front of 90,000 people or in an arena in Saudi is a whole different animal.
“It will bring out a beast in him that I cannot take lightly. I think it is going to be savage, one of the best fights British boxing, world boxing has seen for quite some time because it’s real. This isn’t pretend.
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Eubank Jr is targeting mega fights with Canelo Alvarez and Benn in 2025
“Our fathers have the history, we now have the history. There is so much on the line: money, pride, legacy, upholding our fathers’ names, our families’ names. So much goes into this fight.”
“There were conversations about it [with Turki Alalshikh] in my changing room before I walked out to fight Kamil. He couldn’t even wait for the fight to be over to tell me this is what he wants.
“He wants Conor Benn in February or May and that’s all he cares about. He is very interested in that fight which puts me in an amazing position.”
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