A disturbing report circulated during the afternoon, based on an alleged comment by Chris Eubank Sr. regarding a possible cancellation of his son’s impending fight against Connor Benn, in order to prevent the young Eubank from making a severe weight cut that could eventually put his life in danger.
In a Daily Mail report that shocked the boxing industry, reporter Dan Matthews quotes Eubank Sr. as saying that “my son’s life cannot be put in danger. I’ve already lost one. It can’t happen again.
Eubank refers in that sentence to the loss of his other son Sebastian, also a wrestler, who died in Dubai at the age of 29 in 2021.
‘This is a modern “gladiator”, it is not a game for the public. We have to be strict otherwise lives are in danger,” Eubank Sr. said according to the report, citing a Zoom call involving both fighters along with their parents and former bitter rivals.
With former foe Nigel Benn on the call, an argument ensued between the two parents and their children’s management figures, in which Chris Eubank Sr. claimed that ‘I’ve given him (Chris Jr.) my address. If he doesn’t want to follow him, he will be dragged away. But he’ll do what’s right for him…he’s down 1 ounce under 160 pounds, which can’t happen on my watch.’
After a few more comments, Nigel Benn pressed his old rival on his comments by asking ‘so you’re putting your foot down, telling your son, at 32: this fight is not going to happen’, to which Eubank he allegedly replied: ‘Absolutely.’
Eubank Jr. and Benn Jr. will square off at London’s O2 Arena on October 8 in a historic battle that comes three decades after their parents met in the second installment of British boxing’s greatest rivalry.
The fight was agreed to at a catchweight of 157 pounds, and Eubank Sr. apparently wanted to prevent his son from making what is considered a dangerous weight cut, given that Chris Jr. has routinely fought at 160 pounds or higher during his career.
Although it is unclear whether Eubank Sr. has the power to step in and prevent the fight from taking place, the nature of the fight contract, which includes stiff penalties for both fighters for losing their agreed-upon weight, makes it highly unlikely that The fight will be cancelled, but the noise surrounding this report was enough to make the press and fans concerned about the possibility of a fatal disagreement in a fight that is already an intergenerational grudge match.
