Welterweight contender Conor Benn believes a proposed fight with Chris Eubank Jr. is inching closer to take place in the fall.
They were initially scheduled to take place last October. The fight was called off at the late hour, after UK media revealed that Benn had tested positive for a banned substance. It was later revealed that Benn had tested positive for the same banned substance in an earlier drug test.
Benn is still being investigated by UKAD (UK-Anti-Doping) and the British Boxing Board of Control.
When the fight was called off, Eubank agreed to a middleweight showdown with former 154-pound champion Liam Smith.
The fight, which came off in January, saw Smith pull off a big upset by knocking Eubank out in the fourth round.
Eubank would then exercise an immediate rematch and the second encounter was set to down to take place next month. The fight was postponed when Smith withdrew from the bout with a training camp injury.
Once the Smith rematch was called off, talks were reignited for a showdown between Eubank and Benn, with September 23 being reported as a tentative date.
Last Friday, The Daily Star reported that deal was getting close for Benn-Eubank – with the fight coming off in Abu Dhabi should the UKAD investigation derail Matchroom’s ability to stage it in the UK.
Benn feels confident that everything is coming together, for a fight that would see him move up by two weight divisions to face Eubank at 160-pounds.
“I trust my team. They know what I’m happy with, they know the numbers I want and they’re able to negotiate on my behalf. And that’s all been agreed. The numbers have all been sorted,” Benn told Boxing Social.
“We’ve both agreed, we both want the fight. Until it’s all signed on the dotted line and we’re in that ring you can never be too sure.
“After watching him at 160 [in the Smith fight] he’ll be bang in trouble. Thank God the fight got called off. A fight’s a fight. I’m sparring super middles, light heavies in the gym. It don’t really concern me at all. You can only go off sparring. I’m sparring cruiserweights in Mexico. What I look at is, yeah, can I absorb the shot? Will I have to absorb the shots a lot more? Of course, I will. There’s nothing that he can do that I can’t handle.’