Eddie Hearn believes that size won’t matter when the talking stops and Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn finally get in the ring.
Eubank Jr, 34-3 (25 KOs), and Benn, 23-0 (14 KOs), will meet in a middleweight grudge match at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 26th.
Eubank Jr is a solid middleweight who has also enjoyed success at 168lbs. Although it is five years since he boxed as a super middleweight, he does hold victories over former IBF champion James DeGale and former WBO title holder, Arthur Abraham, and has stood up to noted punchers like George Groves.
Benn, on the other hand, has spent the majority of his career fighting at the welterweight limit of 147lbs but has crept up in weight slightly in recent outings.
Back in October 2022, a 157lb catchweight fight between Eubank and Benn was cancelled when a pre-fight VADA test revealed that Benn had tested positive for the banned substance, clomifene. News of a second positive test soon followed and Benn was plunged into a convoluted legal battle to prove his innocence. The National Anti Doping Panel cleared him to resume his career in the UK late last year.
Amid the fallout, Benn relinquished his British Boxing Board of Control licence, obtained one from the Texas State Athletic Commission and took his show on the road to America.
In September 2023 he weighed 153 1/2lbs for a decision victory over Rodolfo Orozco but just 150 1/2lbs for his twelve round win over Peter Dobson last February.
The size difference between the fighters became apparent when they concluded a lively press tour by posing for photographs on the pitch at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but rather than giving Eubank Jr an advantage, Benn’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, thinks that it merely evens the playing field.
Hearn believes that - at 35 years old and at this stage of his career - Eubank Jr’s size is the only advantage he holds in the fight.
“I think Benn is a better fighter than Eubank,” Hearn told The Ring.
“I think he's fresher. I think he's sharper and I think he's better all round.
“But Eubank's much bigger and that is what makes it a 50-50 fight. I think if this fight was at the natural weight classes - pound for pound - I think Conor would be a big favorite but the reality is, Eubank's much bigger and people talk about the hydration and stuff like that, I’m not having my guy giving away two stone in the ring.”
That rehydration clause means that neither fighter will be able to weight more than 170lbs on the morning of the fight.
“When Kell Brook fought Gennady Golovkin, there was a 10-pound hydration from the IBF and - by the way - Eubank Jr. is no Gennady Golovkin,” Hearn said.