Chris Eubank Jr. says he will have to call it a day if he can’t get his hands raised over Conor Benn.
The longtime middleweight and super middleweight contender will face rising welterweight Benn in an intriguing all-British catchweight bout on Oct. 8 at The O2 Arena in London. Both fighters originate from distinguished British boxing stock in Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr., whose intense rivalry in the early 1990s captivated the nation.
Their sons will meet at 157 pounds.
At a press conference Friday afternoon in London to introduce the fight, Eubank Jr. made it clear that he believes he has much more to lose in this fight than Benn. The 32-year-old Eubank said that a loss to the hard-punching welterweight would spell nothing less than the end of his career.
“No, I cannot come back from a loss,” Eubank said in a video interview published by Matchroom Boxing. “I am finished if I let Conor Benn beat me in this fight. Yeah. So that’s not going to happen.”
On the other hand, Eubank noted that Benn, 25, can easily bounce back from a loss and that he would still be able to mount a prodigious career.
‘I can’t help him, no,” Eubank said of potentially coming to Benn’s aid in the aftermath of a Eubank win. “That’s not my job. But he will come back. He’s got a lot of potential. I just think he’s bitten off more than he can chew at this particular fight. Again, maybe I’m wrong.”
The two traded some heated, yet respectful, words during their presser, with Eubank doing his part to act as supercilious as possible. Despite the smugness, Eubank, who is backed by Wasserman Boxing, did not hide his appreciation for what he feels is his foe’s pluckiness.
“He wants it,” Eubank said of Benn. “He’s up for it. I don’t think he’s scared. He really thinks he’s going to go out there and knock me out.
“That makes him a dangerous man.”