Chris Eubank Jr. would love nothing more than to have his father by his side as he enters into the final and most important stage of his career. Even if that isn’t looking likely.
Eubank Jr. and his father, British boxing legend Chris Eubank Sr., have had little direct contact in recent years, with Eubank Sr. preferring to voice his opinions on his son’s career on podcasts and talk shows.
Eubank Sr. tragically lost another son, Sebastian, in 2021, and Eubank Jr. cannot understand why it hasn’t motivated his father to strengthen their relationship, especially considering what may lie ahead.
In 2022, Eubank Jr. (34-3, 25 KOs) was readying for his fight with Conor Benn without the involvement of his father, who cited the 157-catchweight as his main concern with the bout and therefore refused to be a part of the spectacle. Now, with the long-awaited fight now back in talks to take place in 2025, and potentially doing so at the 160-pound limit, Eubank Jr. hopes for his father’s participation in the build-up.
“I would love for him to be involved,” Eubank Jr. admitted Wednesday on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “The fact that I even have to say that is insane. How is that even a thing? That his son is going to fight the son of his arch-nemesis all those years ago when he was a world champion, how is it a thing that he may not be there? But it’s a thing.”
A Eubank-Benn fight is colossal largely because of their last names and what that means in British boxing history. Their fathers, Eubank Sr. and Nigel Benn, gave British boxing a rivalry in the 1990s that will never be forgotten. So it seems natural that both fathers would be involved in the build-up to their son’s nostalgic contest, but Eubank Jr. concedes that may not happen.
“We don’t talk,” Eubank Jr. said. “He has shown no interest in my career for a long period of time now. He has shown no interest in me in a long period of time. He’s gone through a lot over the last few years and he’s still dealing with his demons, and he thinks certain things aren’t right and should be a certain way, and they’re not and he’s not happy with it, and this is how he’s dealing with it by not being in my life.
“As somebody who’s lost a son, I think that’s a pretty insane thing to be doing, an insane way to be acting. To kind of not be speaking to your remaining kids. But he’s his own man, he’s dealing with the situation how he thinks he should, and all I can do is sit and wait and hope that he comes around at some point. But I can’t tell you if that will happen anytime soon.”
“It’s sad,” Eubank Jr. added. “But I’m my own man and I’ve got massive things on my plate, in my path, that I have to complete, that I have to succeed in. So I can’t let anything like that affect me spiritually, mentally, emotionally. I have to be strong. I have to be focused.
“For a long time, I kind of tried to act like it was cool and, you know, people would ask me, ‘How’s your dad?’ Like, ‘Yeah, we’re good.’ But I got sick of that sh*t, man. It’s bullsh*t. We’re not cool, we’re not OK. And people need to know. The people that are around him need to hear this and speak to him, and let him understand that what he’s doing is not OK. And we need to reunite as a team, as a family.”
Ultimately, Eubank Jr. vs. Benn fell through in 2022 after Benn infamously failed two drug tests in the lead-up to the contest, forcing the British Boxing Board of Control to refuse to sanction it.
Since then, the pairing has become one of boxing’s most coveted yet elusive matchups.
In Eubank Jr.’s ideal world, the long-awaited grudge match now stands as the first step of a three-fight plan that would culminate with a big-money showdown against Canelo Alvarez.
Eubank Jr. said he was offered to face boxing’s biggest star in September but turned it down in the hope of landing the fight again at a later date, which he believes would give him a better chance at beating Alvarez, coming off the back of activity and he fighting for the maximum amount of money.
“We were in talks,” Eubank Jr. said. “The fight was getting made, but we couldn’t agree on the business side of things, and at the end of the day I decided that, you know what? The numbers aren’t adding up, and that combined with the fact that I’ve been out of the ring for a year, this is not the right time. I don’t need to rush into a fight with Canelo; I’m not starving to get paid.”
“I’m not going in there just to survive so I can make a couple [million]. I want to win. And when I do win, I want to make the absolute most amount of money I can. Beat Conor Benn, beat (Erislandy) Lara — get a world title, get on a hot streak, and then get in the ring with Canelo. That is the goal, that’s the plan. I’m betting on myself.”
Instead of facing Alvarez, the 35-year-old fought Poland’s Kamil Szeremeta this past Saturday, whom he knocked down four times in seven rounds for a TKO victory.
“I dominated every round,” Eubank Jr. said. “I knocked the guy down [four times]. I got cut, so I’m pissed off about that, but aside from that, it was a good performance. I wanted to see how it felt coming off a camp with Jonathan Banks, going through a weight cut again. I feel like I could’ve taken the guy out in the first round after that first knockdown, but I let him off the hook because I wanted to stay in that ring; I wanted to enjoy myself. That’s my life; it’s what I do. We learnt a lot about ourselves in that fight.”
Turki Alalshikh, who has been responsible for organizing the boxing events that take place under Riyadh Season, made it clear to Eubank Jr. what fight he wanted to make for him next.
“He came into my changing room before the fight and said, ‘This is all I care about. You and Benn, this is what we want,'” recalled Eubank Jr.
Eubank Jr. and Benn even faced off in the ring in the presence of soccer star Neymar after the Szeremeta knockout.
Alalshikh is planning a Riyadh Season boxing event for February 22, and Eubank Jr. believes his fight with Benn could “absolutely” land on that show.
“I would definitely say that is a target date,” he said. “The cut will be healed up within the next month, so after that, I’m good to go.”
The main significant hurdle in the way of a Eubank Jr. vs. Benn second-generation clash remains Benn’s provisional suspension with UK Anti-Doping, but Eubank Jr. is confident things will work out.
“Everyone is saying he’s expected to get his license back within the next couple of months or couple of weeks,” he said. “And after that, the fight gets made.”
If and when that happens, it’s fair to say Eubank Jr. will not forget Benn’s infractions anytime soon.
“Conor Benn is going to pay for cheating or trying to cheat,” he said. “I’m going to make him pay dearly for that.”
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