‘Eubank is moaning about the date, the weight’: Benn uncertain rematch happens

Conor Benn believes Chris Eubank Jr is angling for a way out of their September rematch.

Conor Benn appeared on Ariel Helwani’s show to talk about a number of things but specifically spoke on his supposed rematch with Chris Eubank Jr. As Benn tells it, even though they both had already signed contracts for the rematch from the very beginning, he’s getting the sense that Eubank Jr isn’t intending to follow through, which leaves their announced September fight date in question.

Benn on where things stand with a Eubank Jr rematch

“So we had signed for the rematch clause, it was a two-fight deal, period. You’ve got to remember, Eubank’s last five fights have been at 160. He’s had 15, 17 fights at 160, the majority of his career was at 160. But obviously he had pre-planned all this with the weight cut and it was a good narrative to push [that he struggled to make 160] and a lot of people believed it.

“But the reality is I’ve come up two weights to his weight division. If he doesn’t want to do the fight, and he is bottling it, which he is — he’s scared...What I’m gathering is he doesn’t want the fight and he wants to get out of it or move the weight. But the reality is I’m not 160, I’m not 154...I’m a 147 fighter and he wanted to push that narrative. You didn’t hear him moaning about the weight when he had to fight Liam Smith, and even when he lost he didn’t use the weight as an excuse.

“But he pushed that narrative well and said he was in the hospital for a few days. I was in the hospital, too. There’s a big difference between me and him.”

On why Eubank Jr would want out of their rematch when he won and it was such a commercial success

“Personally, the only thing I can think of is he’s scared...I don’t think he wants to do that weight. If he wants to move up to fight Janibek, please go ahead. I’d love to see that, too.

“All I do know is Eubank is moaning about the date and he’s moaning about the weight. So, listen, I want to fight Eubank. I want to get redemption, I think he’s scared of that. That was the best Eubank in there but there’s a lot of mistakes I made, there’s experienced gained, lessons learned in there for me, but there’s wrongs that I can right.”