Now that the dust has settled, consequences may soon follow for Chris Eubank Jr.
The British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC), which governs the sport of boxing in the U.K., is set to call IBO middleweight champion Eubank before a hearing in the coming days to decide whether he will be punished and to what degree after Tuesday’s press conference incident in Manchester, England.
Eubank (34-3, 25 KOs) rested his forehead against Conor Benn’s, reached into his pocket for an egg, then delivered a powerful left-handed slap across Benn’s cheek when the pair faced off for the first time Tuesday afternoon ahead of their April 26 all-British grudge match at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The scene quickly descended into chaos afterward, with British boxing legend Nigel Benn — the father of Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KOs) — rushing over to Eubank and grabbing him by the throat. Security was forced to hold both Benns back from retaliating at Eubank after the stage became a free-for-all brawl.
Eubank, 35, and Benn, 28, were scheduled to sit down for a roundtable faceoff on Wednesday, but that has been canceled in light of Tuesday’s events. However, the duo’s second press conference — scheduled for Thursday afternoon in London — will still go ahead with extra security and precautions in place. It is unlikely the pair will be allowed to be within touching distance of one another for the foreseeable future.
The BBBofC has multiple options for how it can punish Eubank for his infraction. At an extreme, it could withdraw Eubank’s boxing license for bringing the sport into disrepute, although that is highly unlikely.
Instead, the hearing will likely result in Eubank being presented with a hefty fine. When heavyweight contender Derek Chisora picked up a table off the ground and lobbed it at Dillian Whyte during a 2016 press conference, he was fined £25,000 for the offense. In all likelihood, Eubank can expect a similar penalty ahead of his long-awaited second-generation clash with Benn.
The fighters’ fathers, Chris Eubank Sr. and Nigel Benn, had two historic bouts in the 1990s that captivated the attention of the British public. In 1990, Eubank Sr. stopped Benn to win the WBO middleweight title in a fight still widely considered to be one of the best in British boxing history. Three years later, 16.5 million people in Britain watched the pair fight to a draw at Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United.
Their sons, Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn, were set to reignite the rivalry in 2022, but the much-anticipated bout was canceled at the last minute after Benn’s positive test for Clomifene was revealed on fight week. The WBC eventually cleared Benn from wrongdoing, blaming the adverse findings on an “elevated consumption of eggs,” hence why Eubank smashed an egg on Benn at Tuesday’s faceoff.
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