RING OF FIRE
Pair all smiles between ropes as kids but Eubank Jnr warns Benn ahead of reunion he’s set to enter..
CHRIS EUBANK JR has already shared a ring with Conor Benn. They just didn’t trade punches in it.
Back in 2015, Benn and his father Nigel paid a visit to Eubank Jr’s Hove gym for some training.
The son of former world champion Nigel had yet to make his professional debut.
Despite their fathers having a bitter rivalry, it was all smiles between the trio as they posed for pictures.
And next week the duo will be back in the ring together for a pay-per-view battle which is being billed as the third instalment in the iconic EubankBenn rivalry.
Eubank Jr, 33, didn’t believe Benn, now 25, would get to this stage back then as he predicted the pressure of being the son of a legend would cause him to crumble.
“At that point, the fight was a dream, it was fantasy, it was never going to happen,” said Eubank Jr as he wrapped his hands in preparation for his latest training session.
“Back then he was so green, so even though he was here with his dad I didn’t think about fighting him.
“I didn’t imagine that he would still be fighting and succeeding seven years on. I thought he would have a go and think, ‘That’s too tough.’
“That’s what happens to most sons of champions. They try it out, they fail, they give it up and they go do something else.
“I thought that is exactly what would happen to him.
“But he kept at it, he kept winning, he kept improving and seven years later we are at a stage where he is big enough profile wise and physically to get into the ring and fight me.”
The bout has been billed as “Born Rivals” but the rendezvous suggests they weren’t always on the path to be enemies despite what will come over the next week to sell the fight.
Their fathers were certainly adversaries with their first meeting in 1990 a ferocious battle which Eubank Sr won by stoppage before a draw in their second iconic clash at Old Trafford in 1993.
This rivalry certainly seems more contrived given the fact neither are in each other’s division with Benn moving up from welterweight to the 157lb catchweight contest and Eubank Jnr shaving off three pounds to get down from middleweight.
But with Benn an unbeaten rising star after 21 wins and Eubank Jr more experienced with two defeats in 34 fights, there is still a sense of intrigue if not the same hostility.
Eubank Jr said: “Are we enemies? We are going to hurt each other in the ring. I want to make sure that he understands that I’m a superior fighter.”
The Brighton boxer has earned millions in his own right as a fighter even if he hasn’t eclipsed his father’s achievement of becoming a two-weight world title holder.
“I lived in a mansion, yes, I went to private school,” he said.
“But when I was a teenager, my father went bankrupt.
“That caused me to have to live the life of a normal person. I lived in a flat above a nursery for years as a teenager. The fact I wanted to get back was a driving part of why I went through all the s*** I went through.”