Eddie Hearn doesn’t understand why Chris Eubank Jr. continues to turn down a much bigger payday for rescheduling his domestic showdown with Conor Benn than Eubank can make for fighting anyone else.
Benn bluntly dismissed his rival as “a p-ssy” following his 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over Peter Dobson on Saturday at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Putting together another deal for what Hearn called “the biggest fight in British boxing history” would require the British Boxing Board of Control and its testing agency, UK Anti-Doping, to lose its appeal of the National Anti-Doping Panel’s decision to overturn Benn’s suspension.
A Eubank-Benn bout could be brought to Saudi Arabia as well, but Hearn, whose Matchroom Boxing promotes Benn, wants to stage it in England if Benn is licensed there and Eubank changes his mind about again agreeing to battle Benn. Their middleweight fight was canceled two days before it was scheduled to take place in October 2022 at O2 Arena in London because Benn twice tested positive for clomiphene, a banned substance.
Benn boxed Dobson in Las Vegas because he is still unable to compete in his home country. The appellate process could conclude sometime this month, but Benn’s hearing hasn’t been scheduled.
Meanwhile, Hearn will seek ranked opponents within the welterweight division in which Benn prefers to compete.
“I’m glad that he’s banked 10 and 12 rounds,” Hearn told DAZN’s Jamie Ward in the ring after he defeated Dobson. “And, you know, people will always criticize Conor Benn, but will they step up and fight him? You know, he wants the names at 147 pounds. I’m still absolutely baffled by Chris Eubank Jr. You know, people talk about him making 160 pounds. No one talks about Conor Benn moving up two divisions to fight him.
“And he’ll criticize [Benn’s performance], he’ll talk about this, but yet he continues to turn down a payday three times bigger than he can get anywhere else. So, if he’s easy work, and you wanna make the biggest fight in the history of British boxing, make it. But I don’t understand why. We move on. [Benn is] tired of talking about him anyway. I’m just still baffled by that.”
Benn’s father, Nigel, lost to Eubank’s dad by ninth-round technical knockout in their memorable WBO middleweight title fight in November 1990 at National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England. Their fathers fought to a split draw in their 12-round rematch, which occurred in October 1993 at Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester, England.
As much as the younger Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) wants to avenge his dad’s defeat, he doesn’t think Eubank (33-3, 24 KOs) will re-engage in negotiations.
“He’s a p-ssy,” Conor Benn said. “That’s it. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. I ain’t got nothing else to say.”
The 27-year-old Benn beat Dobson (16-1, 9 KOs) comfortably on all three scorecards in a 12-round, 151-pound main event DAZN streamed. Judge Tim Cheatham (119-109) scored 11 rounds for Benn, who won 10 rounds apiece according to judges David Sutherland (118-110) and Steve Weisfeld (118-110).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.