In the end, Chris Eubank Jr. could not get himself to reschedule a fight with Conor Benn.
The veteran British middleweight instead is moving forward with a contractually obligated rematch with Liam Smith, who, in one of the year’s biggest upsets, beat him by fourth-round stoppage in January at AO Arena in Manchester.
Their pay-per-view rematch will be held June 17 in the same location as the first fight.
However, there was a spell where Eubank, upon exercising his rematch clause with Smith, was also entertaining talks to fight Benn on June 3 in Abu Dhabi. Eubank and Benn were originally supposed to face each other in a highly anticipated showdown last October but the fight was cancelled amid revelations of Benn’s positive drug tests for a banned performance-enhancing drug.
Benn cannot legally box in his native country because he relinquished his license with the British Board of Boxing Control last year.
More recently, it was revealed that Benn was provisionally suspended by United Kingdom Anti Doping in mid-March. UKAD formally charged Benn last week for his failed drug tests.
Eubank said the offer he received from Benn’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, was a “substantial” one, noting that Hearn had Benn “were willing to do everything” to make that fight happen.
While the brash middleweight is still highly interested in revisiting the Benn fight, he believes the fight belongs on UK soil, not, say, in the Middle East.
“I decided against it (taking the Benn fight),” Eubank told iFL TV. “It was a substantial offer. I had to weigh out the pros and cons of taking that fight before taking the Smith fight, because the Smith fight was always going to happen. I have to avenge the loss. I eventually decided against fighting Benn next.
“It’s not the right time. It wasn’t the right place. He’s got a lot of stuff to sort out and I feel like that’s what needs to happen before we get back in the ring. If it gets to a stage where he never sorts it out I’ll have to rethink, reevaluate. As of right now, it’s still very fresh. I think he needs to get his British boxing license back. And the fight needs to happen in the UK, where we both have a huge fan base and a huge hater base. When you combine those two, it’s mega. We’re filling out stadiums here. So we’ll see how it happens.
“We got fairly deep into negotiations,” Eubank continued. “I just wanted to see what they were willing to do and they were willing to do everything, believe me. But again I decided against it. It’s not the right time. I have to avenge this loss to Liam Smith before I look at any other guys.”
Sean Nam is the author of the forthcoming book Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.