Eddie Hearn remains positive that Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jnr will finally meet this year and he is growing increasingly confident that they will fight in Britain.
When it was initially announced for the O2 Arena in London last October, the catchweight fight between Benn and Eubank Jnr captured the imagination of British sports fans who quickly snapped up the 20,000 available tickets.
The fight was cancelled just days before it was due to take place after Benn tested positive for the banned substance clomifene. Rather than dampening interest in the fight, the controversy of the past twelve months has ramped up interest even further and transformed what was an intriguing fight into a serious grudge match. A clash between the two would be a major event and Hearn has set his mind on a larger venue.
“It’s getting closer. Myself, Kalle [Sauerland] and all the guys, December 23rd at the Millennium Stadium is what we wanna do,” Hearn told Talksport.
After a protracted and bitter battle, in July the National Anti Doping Panel cleared Benn to return to action but on August 17th, the BBBoC confirmed that both they and UK Anti-Doping had filed appeals against the decision.
On September 23rd, Benn outpointed Rodolfo Orozco in Orlando. It was his first appearance in 17 months and he boxed under a licence issued by the Texas State Athletic Commission. Benn hasn’t held a British licence since relinquishing his back in October 2022. On September 2nd, Eubank Jnr stopped Liam Smith in ten one sided rounds in to avenge the only stoppage defeat on his record.
Benn has yet to be given the go ahead to box again in Britain but Hearn seems optimistic that an agreement may be reached.
“There’s a lot of interesting conversations going on with various different people,” Hearn said. “We’ve got the opportunity to stage that event internationally but we don’t want to. We want to do it in the UK. We’ve seen a lot of big fights go to Saudi Arabia, go to Abu Dhabi, go to Vegas. We’ve got a chance to do something special on December 23rd and I will do everything I can to see that fight in the UK next.”