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Chris Eubank Jr.-Conor Benn timeline: How their rivalry unfolded

By ESPN Cleveland 101.3 FM

  • Nick Parkinson

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      Reports on boxing for ESPN.com and has been covering British boxing for over 25 years.

It was not so long ago that the prospect of Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn sharing a ring together seemed more fantasy than reality.

But the English rivals are due to climb through the ropes in front of 62,000 fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday for the biggest non-heavyweight boxing event in the U.K. since Carl Froch took on George Groves at London’s Wembley Stadium in May 2014. Six months ago, Eubank Jr. (34-3, 25 KOs), 35, and Benn (23-0, 14 KOs), 28, were moving in different directions. Benn was still banned from boxing on British soil for testing positive for a banned substance, and had two fights since April 2022, both in the U.S. against subpar competition.

Their fathers were involved in one of the most dynamic boxing rivalries in the 1990s. Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn fought twice, with Eubank stopping Benn in Round 9 in November 1990 to win the vacant WBO middleweight title, and earning a split draw in a super middleweight unification bout in October 1993. Despite their families’ history, the revival of one of boxing’s greatest rivalries has not been inevitable.

A fight between Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn got canceled days before it was first supposed to happen in October 2022 after Benn tested positive for a banned substance. Benn was subsequently banned from boxing in the U.K., and Eubank’s career also took a blow when he suffered a fourth-round TKO loss to Liam Smith in January 2023.

But Eubank vs. Benn never went away, and they are about to share a reported ÂŖ18 million (approximately $23.9 million) purse in a nontitle middleweight fight. This is the story of how we got to this point.

Aug. 20, 2022: Despite two weight divisions separating them, Eubank and Benn are scheduled to face each other on Oct. 8 without much trash talking or calling out. The fight is to be staged at London’s O2 Arena, in front of an expected 20,000 fans.

“It’s not an easy thing to deal with, but you learn to. It makes you stronger, coping with the pressure, and you get used to it. It’s my job,” Benn told ESPN in 2022 about the pressure of living up to expectations of being the son of a two-weight world champion. “My dad never wanted me to fight. I don’t feel like I had to take this path whatsoever. That’s definitely not the reason why I do it. I just love to fight and I’m not letting anyone take that away from me.”

Conor was not even born at the time of the second fight between the fathers, but Eubank Jr. says both younger fighters grew up knowing all about the importance and scale of the rivalry.

“Our fathers tried to kill each other in the ring, so 100% there is a rivalry between us,” Eubank Jr. told ESPN in 2022. “It was bloodlust in every sense of the word. Growing up, we were both always hearing about and people saying, ‘Imagine if they ever fought each other.’

“Growing up, I always knew they were rivals. I remember seeing the injuries and mental hardships my father had to go through during that period of time. The part of his tongue he lost in a fight, it was brutal. I have to respect what he went through and I can’t muddy what he went through back then during that rivalry, those fights with Benn.”

However, Eubank Jr. points out that the rivalry between him and Conor Benn, while real, is different than the one their fathers endured.

“You don’t have to hate each other to be rivals,” Eubank Jr. said. “This is just sport, that’s the rivalry. I don’t know about him, how he feels about it, but I don’t hate Conor Benn like Nigel Benn hated my father. I don’t even dislike Conor; he’s just a guy I need to beat. It will put me on a platform to challenge the bigger guys.”

Oct. 5, 2022: Benn’s voluntary urine test shows trace amounts of fertility drug Clomiphene, a banned substance that boosts testosterone levels while burning fat. Benn argues that his consumption of eggs elevated his testosterone levels.

Oct. 6, 2022: With excitement and interest building, the fight is called off two days before they are set to step in the ring after Benn’s positive test.

Promoters for both fighters try to keep the event as scheduled, even after the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC), in a statement on Wednesday of fight week, said the event won’t take place as “it is not in the interests of boxing.”

It is not until Thursday that promoters Matchroom and Wasserman Boxing confirm the show has been scrapped.

“This is a sport that is very, very dear to us — a sport we have been around our entire lives — and whilst we were desperate for this fight to take place, for the fans and the undercard fighters, we took the decision we felt we had to at this time, especially given the interests of the sport and the British public,” Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says during a news conference in London.

“Conor got caught using an illegal substance, so the fight is off,” Eubank writes on social media. “Can’t believe it. I really apologize to the fans & everyone that bought tickets, traveled & booked hotels, this should not [have] happened. He has escaped his schooling … for now.”

Oct. 26, 2022: The BBBofC announces that Benn voluntarily relinquished his British boxing license during a hearing on Oct. 21, meaning he can no longer fight in the U.K., where his fan base is and where he lives.

Jan. 18, 2023: Eubank says that for a fight vs. Benn to happen, Benn will have to step up two weight classes to middleweight.

“Can the fight still happen? Absolutely, anything can happen, this is boxing,” Eubank tells ESPN in an interview before he is due to fight English rival Liam Smith. “I’m sure it will happen. When? I couldn’t tell you that, but now it’s a fight the whole nation wants to see, the entire boxing world wants to see. When he gets his stuff sorted out, we can look at making the fight happen. But it will not be at that crazy catchweight. He has lost all his privilege about me cutting weight.

“We have our own narrative now, our own beef. It’s not just about who our fathers are. We have our own thing going on, and he has to answer for what he has done.”

Eubank adds he was frustrated by not being made aware Benn had tested positive for a failed substance sooner. He says he found out about the test result “about 10 days before the fight.”

“It was too late,” he says. “By then I had done a full camp, I was confident, a lot of people had a lot invested in it, and that’s why I didn’t say anything to anybody.

“Was it the right thing to do? I don’t know, but the public found out and the promoter [Eddie Hearn of Matchroom] was forced to stop it.”

Jan. 21, 2023: Smith, a former WBO welterweight world champion, floors Eubank twice in a four-round win, the worst defeat of Eubank’s career. It ends any hope of Eubank challenging unified champion Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin. Smith and Eubank agree to a rematch.

Feb. 22, 2023: The WBC sanctioning body clears Benn of intentional doping, saying the boxer’s consumption of eggs presented a “reasonable explanation” for his failed test.

The WBC says in its ruling: “Mr. Benn’s documented and highly elevated consumption of eggs during the times relevant to the sample collection raised a reasonable explanation for the adverse finding.” The sanctioning body adds there is “no conclusive evidence that Mr. Benn engaged in intentional or knowing ingestion of Clomiphene.”

However, Benn remains banned by the BBBofC.

“The BBBofC has not been party to the review conducted by the WBC and has not been provided with sight of any evidence submitted on Mr. Benn’s behalf,” BBBofC general secretary Robert Smith says in a statement. “For clarity, whilst the BBBofC wishes to make clear that it respects the WBC, the WBC is a sanctioning body and not a governing body.

“The BBBofC was the governing body with whom Mr. Benn was licensed at the material time, and as such, any alleged anti-doping violation shall be dealt with in accordance with its rules and regulations.”

March 6, 2023: Benn says he considered suicide after testing positive for a banned substance.

“It’s hurt me,” he told “Piers Morgan Uncensored.” “I didn’t think I was going to make it through this period. I didn’t think I was going to make it through.

“I was shamed for something I hadn’t even done. It’s hard because I felt like I was on death row for something I haven’t even done.”

When asked if he was feeling suicidal, Benn says: “Yeah, yeah, I’d say so, and it upsets me now because I don’t know how I got so bad.

“I got in a really bad way about it. You’ve got to remember, if you think I’m innocent or if you don’t think I’m innocent: I am innocent.”

Sept. 2, 2023: Eubank delivers a great performance to rescue his career and gains revenge on Smith with a 10th-round stoppage win in Manchester, England, also the site of the previous fight with Smith. With his career at a crossroads, Eubank drops Smith in Rounds 4 and 10. Eubank mentions Benn among a list of potential future opponents, including retired Kell Brook and Golovkin.

Sept. 23, 2023: Benn earns a unanimous decision win over Rodolfo Orozco in a 10-round nontitle bout in Orlando, Florida. The fight goes largely unnoticed.

Dec. 5, 2023: Eubank suggests Benn’s ban is what is holding up their fight.

Feb. 3, 2024: Benn goes the distance in a welterweight bout to pick up a unanimous decision victory (119-109, 118-110, 118-110) over fellow Englishman Peter Dobson in Las Vegas. It is Benn’s second bout since April 16, 2022, the inactivity due to his suspension, and his second successive fight in the United States. Benn’s win over Dobson also gets little attention back home in England.

April 28, 2024: Eubank splits with promoter Wasserman Boxing and signs with BOXXER.

Oct. 12, 2024: Eubank scores a predictable seventh-round knockout over Kamil Szeremeta in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But more significantly, Benn is ringside. Benn gets in the ring afterward, and he and Eubank squares up. Benn is still banned from fighting in the U.K., but their encounter represents a big step forward toward them fighting.

Eubank writes on X, with a photo of him squaring up to Benn: “I guess I got my next scrap lined up.”

Benn responds on X: “I promise you I will chin this idiot inside 3 rounds.”

Nov. 16, 2024: With Eubank vs. Benn still not locked in, Benn insists he is focused on landing a shot at WBC champion Mario Barrios, not Eubank. “I want Barrios next,” he writes on X.

Nov. 28, 2024: After two years of legal battles, Benn is cleared to fight in the U.K. after UK Anti-Doping announces it will not appeal the decision by the National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP) to lift Benn’s ban.

The BBBofC also confirms that it will not be appealing the decision of the NADP, which clears the way for Benn to box in the U.K. for the first time since April 2022. Benn failed two drugs tests conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) before he was due to face Eubank in 2022. The NAPD, the U.K.’s independent tribunal responsible for adjudicating anti-doping disputes in sport, and the BBBofC banned Benn after his two positive test results.

Jan. 15, 2025: Benn shares pictures of himself signing a contract.

Benn writes on X: “Your Fate has been sealed!”

Eubank responds with a message of his own: “Conor Benn just signed his own death sentence.”

Jan. 23, 2025: Eubank vs. Benn is confirmed for April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London.

Feb. 25, 2025: As the two rivals come face to face at a news conference in Manchester, England, Eubank reaches into one of his pockets, pulls out a raw egg and smacks it against the right side of Benn’s face. Benn’s face is covered in egg, and he has to be restrained by security guards. Nigel Benn, Conor’s dad, launches himself at Eubank and grabs him around the neck. Nigel later apologizes, explaining he thought Eubank had smashed a glass on his son.

“Apparently egg contamination was the reason for his two failed drugs tests. So I contaminated him with an egg,” Eubank writes on social media.

Later that day, Benn writes again on X: “That’s the only shot you’ll land on me you f—ing p—k.”

Feb. 27, 2025: Matchroom’s Hearn confirms Benn will be granted a British boxing license again, meaning the fight can take place at a venue in England. Eubank also pledges ÂŖ50,000 ($65,000) from his purse to the fighters on the undercard of the October 2022 show, which was cancelled after Benn’s positive doping test.

March 11, 2025: Eubank is fined ÂŖ100,000 ($130,000) by the BBBofC for smashing the egg against Benn’s face. The boxing authority found Eubank “in breach of Regulation 25 (misconduct) for his conduct at the news conference in Manchester.” Eubank says paying the fine is “worth every penny.”

This post was originally published on this site

By ESPN Cleveland 101.3 FM

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