Boxing grudge match between Benn and Eubank back on after first fight was canceled

By Canadian Press on January 15, 2025.

LONDON (AP) — The all-British boxing grudge match between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr. is back on.

They will fight in London in April, promoters Eddie Hearn and Turki Alalshikh said Wednesday, more than 30 years after the boxers’ fathers — Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank — met twice in the ring in one of Britain’s great rivalries.

Benn and Eubank Jr. were scheduled to fight at London’s O2 Arena in October 2022 in a catchweight bout, but it was called off after Benn failed a voluntary doping test.

Benn battled for two years to clear his name and his suspension was lifted in November last year.

“We got the fight signed,” Hearn said. “Conor Benn vs. Chris Eubank is on, two years after the first one.”

The 28-year-old Benn took to Instagram on Wednesday to share pictures of himself signing a contract with Hearn and Alalshikh, a Saudi official who organizes boxing events for the kingdom.

“Your Fate has been sealed!” Benn said to Eubank Jr.

Eubank Jr., who is 35, responded by posting the picture on his Instagram story, with the message: “Conor Benn just signed his own death sentence.”

Benn, who has competed twice in the United States while provisionally suspended, will reportedly have to move up from welterweight to fight Eubank. The weight class for the fight has yet to be announced.

Their fathers fought each other in 1990 and 1993.

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The Associated Press