Conor Benn is prepared to move on from Chris Eubank Jr. for good.
One day after Benn’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, expressed doubt that a deal could be reached in time for the sworn rivals to fight each other on Feb. 3 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Eubank’s promoter, Kalle Sauerland, told an outlet that talks were officially dead in the water.
Handlers for both fighters have spent the better part of the past year desperately trying to revive a fight that had been agreed to and scheduled for October of 2022. But the high-profile showdown was canceled a few days out from the night of the fight, after it was revealed that Benn had tested positive for the banned performance-enhancing drug clomifene. It was subsequently revealed that Benn had failed another test for the same substance.
While Hearn seemed to be optimistic that Eubank vs. Benn could happen in the summer of next year, Benn was far more pessimistic, saying Eubank’s financial expectations will always put the fight out of reach.
“Yeah, I can’t see the fight happening with me and Chris in general,” Benn told Boxing Social. “The money he wants is silly money. Bear in mind he’s already getting paid silly money, career high payday to fight a welterweight. He has lost his pen. Would I want to fight me if I was him? Probably not.
“He’s at the end of his career. He asked the WBO to remove him from mandatory position as he don’t want to fight [WBO and IBF middleweight champion] Janibek [Alimkhanuly]. So I think that sums him up. He has lost his pen.
“I’m going to move on with my career. There’s plenty of big fights that are being circulated for me.”
Added Benn, “He wants silly money that he’ll always want. So will the fight happen in the future? Definitely not. I won’t wait around for it.”
Benn said he still expects to fight on Feb. 3.
“Feb. 3rd the show still goes on,” Benn said. “We have opponents already lined up. We have four opponents lined up already. So we’ve agreed to all of them so hopefully we’ll have an announcement this weekend.”
Benn, of course, is not cleared to fight in his native England by the British Boxing Board of Control. Robert Smith, the head of the regulatory body, recently came out and said that he had denied Benn’s application to box because Benn has yet to go through the proper procedure to clear his name.
Benn was suspended by United Kingdom Anti-Doping earlier this year only to have it lifted in the summer by an independent panel. The BBBofC and UK Anti-Doping have appealed that decision, which is still ongoing.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.