Chris Eubank Sr has accused his son of “trashing” his legacy and has called for his boxing licence to be revoked ahead of the fight against Conor Benn. Eubank Jr will take on Benn at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday night in a bout which sees two famous names of the sport go head to head.
The fight was supposed to happen back in 2022 but was cancelled after Benn failed two drug tests. It has been brought back around amid a swirl of hype and will earn both fighters around £7.5million. While Benn has the backing of his father Nigel Benn, who famously fought Eubank Snr back in 1990, Eubank Jr has become estranged from his father.
His decision to smash an egg in the face of his opponent at a press conference in February disgusted Eubank Sr, who has come out and publicly criticised his son before the biggest fight of his career. “He must have his licence revoked,” he stated on The Sun’s No Glove Lost show. “They have built it as a legacy fight. This started in 1990 with me and Nigel. So my son, he smashes an egg on the face of Conor. You want me to be associated with this?
“This is not legacy. That is bringing the game of boxing into disrepute. That would’ve had a disqualifying effect back in my day. [It’s] no different to the language of Conor – the man speaks like he’s a possessed drunk.” He added: “These two young men are trashing what me and Mr Benn did! They’re trashing it – and the public are following it because ‘Oh, it’s just entertainment’. It’s not just entertainment. Boxing is a standard bearing vocation.”
Former boxer George Groves pointed out Eubank Jr was fined £100,000 for the egg stunt – which was a reference to Benn’s failed drug test, that the WBC suggested could be explained by a “highly elevated consumption of eggs” – but Eubank Sr wasn’t buying it. “A lot of money? Some people don’t earn that money during their careers but it’s nothing to him because of the money that he’s actually earning,” he retorted.
“But what he’s doing is sending a message which makes a mockery of boxing. And you’re not looking at that and I don’t know why you’re not looking at that.” Eubank Sr also described it as “madness” and “insane” that Benn was allowed to jump from his normal fighting weight of 147lb to 160lb just for this middleweight contest.
He believes it is potentially dangerous to allow boxers to step outside of their normal division just to make money. “Their language is against the rules, their actions which are physical and outside the ring are against the rules,” he said. “Everything – the weight – this is against the rules.”
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