By Barry Holbrook: Conor says he’s already started training camp for his next fight in October, which is expected to be a 156-lb catchweight against middleweight Chris Eubank Jr. on DAZN pay-per-view.
Eubank Jr (34-2, 23 KOs) will have the size & experience advantage over Benn, and that might be more than enough for him to win. Conor is a good puncher, but his opposition has been godawful his entire career.
This is a fight between the underachiever Eubank Jr fighting 25-year-old Benn with his padded record. Benn should be fighting the top welterweight contenders like Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis, Vergil Ortiz Jr, and Keith Thurman, but his management is not eager to make those fights for obvious reasons.
It seems as if Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn has been wary of matching him against quality opposition that might beat him until now with a fight against Eubank Jr popping up.
That’s a fight that will pay Benn so much money that it doesn’t matter if he loses, which on paper he likely will.
Benn (21-0, 14 KOs) has already put on a lot of bulk on his short 5’8″ welterweight frame, but he’s going to need to add a little more if he hopes to defeat the bigger faster & stronger Eubank Jr.
“I believe it when I see it because I think the weight difference is too high,” said Johnny Nelson to Secondsout about middleweight Chris Eubank Jr. being too heavy for welterweight Conor Benn.
The Team Benn camp has started! pic.twitter.com/jGdTNiiDm4
— Conor Nigel Benn (@ConorNigel) July 25, 2022
Nelson is right about the size, and the weight difference is too high for Benn to overcome. It wouldn’t be so bad if Hearn had matched Benn against top 147-pounders and 154-lb contenders, but he’s chosen to take the soft round in what he calls “learning fights.”
“Conor Benn is an emotionally intelligent fighter, so he has a mix of his dad [Nigel Benn], but he had some more intelligence there,” said Nelson. “He sees this line, and he kind of wants this fight.
“I say we’ll do this fight, but you’ve got to weigh this. The thing is, by June, I don’t think Chris and Conor can make this weight realistically. I don’t think he could. It’s great to talk about maybe fighting in two to three years.
It’s a great fight because they’re the sons of legends [Nigel Benn & Chris Eubank Jr. Conor, as I said, is an intelligent animal. So, that’s what he gets from his dad, the emotion from the dad,” said Nelson.
“No weak link.The Algieri Shot,” said Conor Benn on Twitter.
