The mood on a grey Tuesday afternoon at Churchill's Boxing Gym in South London is one of eager anticipation as Chris Eubank Jr's training team, and Ring Magazine, await what will be a grand arrival.

Evidently accustomed to fashionably late entrances, a coach of his: "Chris should be here for 5pm...that could mean anything."

In the meantime, attention turns to one of the rings, where female junior-featherweight contender Johanna Wonyou is hitting pads with the gym's owner Samm Mullins. Then it switches to Eubank Jr's head trainer, Jonathan Banks, who unfolds a chair, takes a seat and begins a stare-down with the entrance door.

Then, we have movement. A blacked out Tesla Model X with 'falcon wing' doors pulls up to the outside of the gym and several bodies, one of them armed with a sizeable camera and gimbal set-up, exit.

Eubank Jr is among the cohort, and his entrance into the gym is filmed for a documentary, the rights of which may end up on "Amazon Prime or something", the camera operator says.

Just a few weeks out from his April 26 fight with his inherited rival Conor Benn at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, an event which will be put on by The Ring in association with SNK Games, creators of the video game FATAL Fury: City of the Wolves, Matchroom Boxing and Boxxer, Eubank Jr is poise personified.

He plumps himself onto a sunken sofa at the back of the gym and, just like he did at his two press conferences with Benn in February, commands attention with ease as he begins to reflect on the last five years of his life; a period in which Eubank Jr had to cope with the tragic death of his brother, Sebastian, in 2021, the cancellation of his originally-scheduled fight with Benn in 2022 and the first knockout defeat of his career against Liam Smith in 2023.

"Life's been what life really is," Eubank Jr (34-3, 25 KOs) tells The Ring. "Trials, tribulations, ups, downs, successes and failures. One thing I've learned I'm actually very good at is dealing with things that you never see coming.

"No matter how hard they are, no matter how shocking they are, I always find a way to stay on track, to stay focused, to stay committed to the cause. That's something I pride myself on.

"I don't want to say I'm cold. Some people may see me as that, or may come across as that, but if I am cold, then that's what boxing made me.

"I've been through too much, I've seen too much, inside and outside of the sport, for me to be an emotional man. I've dealt with too many things, and now it's kind of like...I guess I don't have the feelings that most normal human beings have in certain situations, especially in high-stress situations or hostile situations.

"I don't react, there's a certain aura about the way I do things and the things that I say that people seem to be attracted to. That's just me."

The build-up to Eubank Jr's fight with Benn (23-0, 14 KOs), which comes two-and-a-half years after it was supposed to happen, but didn't because of the latter's two failed Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) drug tests, has been fraught with toxicity and unsavoury moments.

At their first press conference on February 25 in Manchester, Eubank Jr signed off by slapping an egg in the face of Benn, a nod to the notion pegged by the World Boxing Council (WBC) that Benn's failed tests were as a result of an over-consumption of eggs.

The stunt made front and back-page news in the UK and their rivalry, first brought about by their fathers Chris Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn in the 1990s, entered a new stratosphere.

Bitterness comes from both sides. Benn finds Eubank Jr, whose father beat Nigel in their first encounter in 1990, before they drew the rematch in 1993, insufferable. Eubank Jr won't use the word 'hate' but there's serious disdain for the man he feels tried to cheat against him in October 2022.

Though it's not a decision Eubank Jr will ever subscribe to, it should be said Benn has since been cleared of any wrongdoing by the National Anti-Doping Panel (NADP).

Despite his icy exterior, Eubank Jr, 35, admits to feeling more emotional than usual ahead of this weekend.

"Emotions, as I've said, I've always tried to keep out of boxing,” he adds. "For this particular fight, there are definitely more emotions involved than pretty much any other fight I've ever had. I don't know how that's going to affect my performance.

"I don't know if it's going to be good or bad. But the truth is, yes, there are feelings that I have towards this guy and towards the situation as a whole. Drug cheating, the family feuds, the legacy, all of these things garner emotion."

One wonders whether Eubank Jr still really loves boxing. He faced immense pressure at the start of his career and comparisons to his legendary father, who was a two-weight world champion, were natural ones to make.

In 2016, Eubank Jr had to deal with one of the most difficult situations a fighter could ever face when he beat Nick Blackwell to win the British middleweight title. Blackwell was left with a severe brain injury and fell into a coma before eventually retiring from the sport.

Though he's been in high-profile fights since, Eubank Jr is yet to win a world title and after his money-spinning fight with Benn, win or lose, questions will be asked of his desire to continue boxing, having fought through some dark moments to earn more money than he’ll ever know what to do with.

"I think to be able to do the things I've done," he says. "To be able to have stayed in the sport for the length of time that I have and stayed in the sport responsibly, not just for money or because you've got nothing else to do...you have to love it.

"There's so much hardship and torment that you have to go through, that when you come home after a hard day's graft in the gym, getting beat up in sparring, and you've got an injury and you're sick, you think, you know what? I'm not going to go to the gym tomorrow. Screw it. I'm going to do something else.

"You can never make it in an industry that's so cruel and tough unless you genuinely love doing what you do.

"But what I don't like...[Benn] was preparing to fight me and was taking performance-enhancing drugs. I'm not going to give him that power over me to say that I hate him. But to me, he's a lowlife and somebody that doesn't deserve to be in the position he's in, somebody that I'm going to try my best to squeeze out of the sport."

Eubank Jr made reference to his role as British boxing's biggest villain during his pressers with Benn, noting that his opponent was now just as hated as he was because of his positive drug tests.

"The booing has become a comfort, as sick as that might sound," he says.

It's life away from the ring, however, which brings legitimate comfort to Eubank Jr.

He now spends much of his time away from his home city Brighton, choosing to live his days in Las Vegas and Dubai, where his nephew, Raheem, the son of his late brother, Sebastian, lives with his mother.

"I will always love Brighton," he adds. "But I feel like at this stage in my life, I've kind of outgrown that small city lifestyle.

"For some people, that's what they want for their home and their comfort. But I've never been that type of guy. I like the excitement. I like being in and around the craic. And if I'm not around it, I wanna be able to access it whenever I want, I don't wanna have to drive an hour and a half to get somewhere cool.

"Plus, Raheem is the one thing that made my brother Sebastian’s passing away tolerable, made me able to deal with it without breaking down. Knowing I have to be there for him.

"We have an amazing relationship, I spend a lot of time with him out in Dubai. I take him everywhere with me whenever I can. I never thought about that side of life as a kid. It never really appealed to me. I didn't really get it, then Raheem came into my life and now nothing makes me happier, which is pretty wild. It makes me think about starting my own family and having my own son. But Raheem is my son in my heart."

Attention turns back to Benn, who has yet to fight at world level in his 23-fight career and is coming up from his natural weight, 147 pounds, to challenge Eubank Jr at middleweight.

While much has been made of the Eubank-Benn rivalry, the controversies surrounding it and its infamy, less focus has been placed on the actual boxing match and its outcome.

Benn is younger and potentially hungrier, while Eubank Jr is physically bigger and battle-worn.

"He's unproven", Eubank Jr says. "We don't know what he's capable of. Sometimes that makes it harder because these guys don't know how to lose. They don't have that in their heart. But even though I have losses, I still don't know how to lose, either."

Channeling the spirit of his enigmatic father, who won't be at Spurs on fight night, having made clear his disapproval of the bout with Benn, Eubank Jr finishes with just five words.

"The procedure will be parliamentary."

The Eubank Jr. vs Benn event will air on DAZN PPV.