Eddie Hearn, promoter for welterweight contender Conor Benn, is ready and willing to finalize a middleweight fight with Chris Eubank Jr.
Benn and Eubank were scheduled to collide last October in a high-stakes pay-per-view showdown. A few days before their fight date, the entire event fell apart when news broke that Benn had tested positive for a banned substance.
Eubank would eventually finalize a January fight with former world champion Liam Smith.
In a complete stunner, Smith knocked Eubank out in four rounds.
Last Saturday night in Manchester, Eubank secured his revenge with a dominating stoppage of Smith in their contracted rematch.
Benn was sitting at ringside and immediately called for a showdown with Eubank.
Hearn is now planning to do his best to make that fight happen.
“I sent a text to [Eubank’s promoter] Kalle [Sauerland]. I texted Kalle on the morning [of the fight] and I said ‘please win or lose well.’ Do you know what I mean? Because the Eubank fight, if he lost well then the Eubank-Benn fight is big. If he won, which he did, the Eubank-Benn fight is absolutely huge. We’re going to try and make that fight; we’re going to meet this week. Eubank has got options, Conor has got options – but let’s be honest, it’s the biggest fight for both of them by a mile,” Hearn told IFL TV.
At the moment, however, Benn is still embroiled in a legal tussle with the British Boxing Board of Control and testing agency UKAD.
A few months ago, Benn’s suspension was lifted by the National Anti-Doping Panel, but the BBBofC and UKAD have appealed that decision.
There is a possibility that Benn will take a stay-busy fight on September 30 as part of a Matchroom card taking place in Orlando, Florida.
“We’re having conversations, decent communications with the [BBBofC] about Conor boxing on September 30th, which they haven’t rejected. Those conversations are ongoing. He has the option; he’s licensed in America. He’s not suspended anywhere and the [BBBofC] is happy for him to fight in Orlando. They are not going to object to it, they are not going to say he can’t fight, because they can’t, he’s not suspended, and he’s been cleared of his suspension,” Hearn said.
“Ideally we would like him to fight before he goes into that huge fight [with Eubank], which would be in December. He will go into that fight straight off the bat, but he hasn’t boxed for over a year and a half now. It doesn’t even have to be a big fight of any magnitude, just go in there and dust the cobwebs off for a career-defining fight. And that’s something that we’ll have to decide this week. “