Promoter Eddie Hearn has apparently decided it is better for the high-profile fight between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr. to take place on its own date.
The Matchroom head suggested previously that a fight involving his client, the drug-embattled Benn, and Eubank Jr. had been penciled in for Dec. 23, possibly in England.
But that day is also reportedly being eyed for the undisputed heavyweight championship between WBC titlist Fury and WBO, WBA, IBF, IBO champion Usyk.
In an interview published on Thursday, Hearn said Benn-Eubank is now more likely to take place in January. It is still unclear where the fight would take place as Benn has been at loggerheads with the British Boxing Board of Control for the past year and a half.
Benn tested positive twice last year for the banned performance-enhancing drug clomifene, but he returned to action in September with a decision over Rodolfo Orozco on a Matchroom-promoted card in Orlando. Although Benn’s suspension was lifted by the National Anti-Doping Panel, the BBBofC and United Kingdom Anti-Doping have appealed that decision.
“December 23 is eight weeks,” Hearn told Boxing Social. “We’ve been told Usyk’s fighting Fury, who knows, so for us Benn-Eubank looks difficult on that date. What we are going to do is make that fight, I believe, for January. I think that fight will get made in the next couple of days, touch wood, and we’re going to do it in England and it’s going to be one of the biggest fights the country has ever seen.”
Hearn said he expects to announce the fight relatively soon.
“[Eubank promoter] Kalle and [Matchroom president] Frank [Smith], myself, everybody’s working around the clock to get the deal over the line,” Hearn said. “Fingers’ crossed we can give Britain a mega fight that it needs because we’ve got some great shows, we’ve got some great fights, but we need those stadium fillers. Benn-Eubank don’t get much bigger.”
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.