Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn Odds: The second generation superfight is finally here

Chris Eubank Jr. will take on Conor Benn this April, with the fight expected to land in London. No venue has been confirmed, though there is talk of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hosting the bout. The event will fall under the The Ring banner, with owner of the magazine Turki Alalshikh announcing the fight on his X account.

Here is a first look at the odds for this middleweight clash and a summary of the troubled road to get to this mega-fight.

Everyone knows the story behind this one, but here is a little history lesson for the uninitiated. 

The fathers of these men waged one of the most famous rivalries in British boxing history. Chris Eubank Sr. knocked out Nigel Benn in the ninth round of a vicious WBO middleweight title bout in Birmingham back in 1990. The pair would reconvene for the unified WBC and WBO super middleweight crown at Old Trafford in 1993, with another bracing battle ending in a draw.

The contrasts between the men’s personalities sold the story, with the in-ring action providing the blood-splattered icing on the cake. Eubank was the peacocking aristocrat of the ring. Benn was the streetwise savage. It was a license to print money. Boxing’s ultimate culture clash.

With the old stagers retired, their sons have each taken centre stage. Eubank Jr has toyed with world title level, having lost a WBA challenge to George Groves alongside reigns with the WBA interim and minor IBO titles. He holds signature wins over ex-champs like James DeGale and Liam Smith, against whom he avenged a knockout loss.

Benn has long been pegged as a star on the rise. He is world-ranked and has carved his way through fading welterweight attractions like Chris Algieri and Chris van Heerden. Fans had long been hoping for a step-up from ‘The Destroyer’. In October 2022, it looked like Benn was going to oblige.

Eubank and Benn were all set to battle at the O2 Arena before clomifene, an illegal subatance, was found in Benn’s anti-doping sample. Some saw this as a result of the 157lb catchweight, 10 pounds higher than Benn had ever fought. The bout was scrapped by the British Boxing Board of Control and Conor was banned.

An independent NADP panel would lift Benn’s suspension and he has fought twice since. Dominant decisions over Rodolfo Orozco and Peter Dobson show no decline in his abilities, though some have questioned what has happened to the immense power Benn once displayed.

The inevitable endgame of all this was a revival of this match-up. Given their differing weight classes, with Eubank having fought as high as super middleweight in the past, it is mainly their famous family rivalry that has kept this one alive.

It has nearly died on multiple occasions though. I spoke to Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn last week, and he went into depth on how hard a road this has been. 

“It’s been a difficult fight to get over the line. Those two can’t stand each other. There’s a lot of hatred. If we’re going to make that fight it’s in the next week and if not we’ll give up. It’s been frustrating. But it is a huge fight and hopefully we can get it over the line.” 

I also spoke with Ben Shalom, who promotes Eubank, later that week. He was tentatively confident but his comments demonstrated how precarious this journey has been behind the scenes.

“It feels like we’re at the end of a marathon. You can see the finish line and there’s a hundred metres to go. You don’t want them to trip up and you don’t want to trip up.”

According to boxing’s de facto overlord Alalshikh, nobody has tripped. While the poster and the particulars haven’t dropped, usually when he speaks about a fight it comes into being pretty sharpish. 

Opinion is divided, a fact Shalom expected last week. “It’s going to be such a big event for this country. I think the boxing purists underestimate how big this fight is for the wider entertainment sector and the wider sports sector. It’s absolutely huge.”

As a fight, the merit can be argued. A career welterweight taking on a middleweight with no world titles on the line does appear to lack some element of sporting merit. But this is about the story. A generational rivalry. The added tension from the initial postponement. The idea that this collision course is hardwired into these men. You can argue about how it will affect the world rankings, but that isn’t the point. This is about so much more. 

Chris Eubank Jr. vs Conor Benn Fight Odds

Eubank opens as a 1/2 favourite, reflecting his comfort at the weight and the higher level of competition he has mixed with. For the first time in his career, Benn enters a fight as the underdog. He opens at 13/8 in the market. A draw is priced at 14/1, which would echo the result of their fathers’ 1993 rematch.

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