Benn vs Eubank Jr details emerge with fight seemingly closer than ever
Share:
The Britons were due to clash in October 2022, but the fight collapsed on short notice, as it was revealed that Benn had failed two drug tests. Promoters Eddie Hearn and Ben Shalom have revealed various details around a long-awaited fight between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn – more than two years after the bout collapsed.
![[Chris Eubank Jr (left) and Conor Benn in 2022, before their fight was cancelled]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/10/07/10/newFile-7.jpg)
Eubank Jr and Benn were due to fight in October 2022, almost 30 years after their fathers Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn completed their iconic in-ring rivalry. But the bout was thwarted on late notice, due to two failed drug tests by Benn, who was then stripped of his British boxing licence.
Benn is finally free to box in the UK again, having competed in the US over the last two years, and a reorganised clash with Eubank Jr could be announced this week. “As long as they don’t keep changing the goalposts at the last minute, [a deal could be announced this week],” said Shalom, who promotes Eubank Jr, 35.
Hearn, who promotes 28-year-old Benn, added: “All the contracts and fights are being negotiated individually, so I’m not negotiating with him [Shalom], he’s not negotiating with me. Otherwise, by the way, we wouldn’t be in this position. It wouldn’t have got done, not because of you [Shalom] and me, but because I would have had to deal with you and Eubank, and we would have made some requests...
“Put it this way: it’s a lot easier when Turki’s making the requests to Conor and to Eubank, than it is [with] me or [Shalom] making the requests,” Hearn continued, referencing Saudi adviser Turki Al-Sheikh, the man behind boxing’s recent spate of top-level fight cards.
