Conor Benn has already made his first mistake in the showdown with Chris Eubank Jnr.
I said when the fight was first mooted that Benn should hold out for a catchweight of 154 pounds, 155 max. A limit of 157lbs might not appear significantly different but those extra pounds are hard to shift and making Eubank Jnr shed them would have been more valuable to Benn than the £80k penalty per pound if he misses it.
The emphasis now should be on the rehydration weight, and the timing of the second weigh-in on fight day. If it were me, I’d set it at 165 and have it as close to fight time as possible, 8pm on the evening of the bout. The big factor driving this fight is the link to their famous fathers, who met for the first time 32 years ago in Birmingham and again in Manchester three years later.
The first fight, won by Eubank, was for the WBO middleweight title, the second, a draw, was for the WBO super middleweight crown. They were both big, strong middleweights who struggled to make the 160 pound middleweight limit. Here only Eubank Jnr inherited those genes. Benn is a welterweight. There is a 20-pound discrepancy and that is the issue with this fight.
I can see the appeal, the connection to their father’s and the amazing characters they were. It will drive huge numbers for DAZN. This is about money, which is fair enough. A high-stakes contest with so much on the line. Their fathers fought on terrestrial television. They were big stars, household names. It was a very exciting time for British boxing. Benn was a slashing, banging, attacking fighter. He was tight at the weight in the first fight and Eubank ground him down.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Will Benn vs Eubank Jnr be as good a fight as their dads'? Let us know in the comments section
I commentated on both for ITV. In the first I predicted Eubank would prosper because he had a great chin and Benn might tire. I thought Eubank deserved the draw in the rematch on an amazing night at Old Trafford. We had a debate on TV the next day with Don King and Jim Watt. The swell of opinion was that Benn had done enough. Eubank liked to kill time in a fight. He never initiated attacks. His son fights just like him. He is brilliant when opponents come to him, less so going forward.
Benn, too, fights like his dad. He will be on the front foot from the start. But that’s what Eubank Jnr loves, and he’s the bigger specimen. The fight won’t lack intensity but because of the differential in size and experience, I don’t see it reaching the same heights hit by their fathers. That won’t stop me watching of course. And it will be some spectacle.
Follow Barry on Twitter at @ClonesCyclone @McGuigans_Gym
