There was plenty of drama ahead of Saturday night’s contest, but promoter Eddie Hearn revealed Eubank Jr’s team threatened to cancel the clash just hours before the first bell
Eddie Hearn has revealed Chris Eubank Jr’s team threatened to cancel his fight with Conor Benn just hours before the pair were expected to walk to the ring.
On Friday, footage emerged online of Eubank Jr’s team telling British Boxing Board of Control general secretary Robert Smith of their frustration at Benn’s Everlast gloves during a heated meeting. Their argument that the gloves contained horse hair – which while legal remains divisive as modern gloves are typically padded with foam.
“They’ve got horse hair in them,” a member of Eubank Jr’s team complained to Robert Smith. “The gloves were approved by the British Boxing Board of Control,” replied the BBBoC chief. “You should have been here at the beginning. They are done.” Eubank Jr’s team replied: “This is not okay. We specified all the way through that we don’t want horse hair.”
Smith then said: “You haven’t involved the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBoC) and the Board of Control are the people that approve the gloves. Those gloves are approved, as these gloves are approved and all these other gloves are approved.” Just a few days removed from the blockbuster showdown, Hearn has admitted Team Eubank Jr threatened to jeopardise the fight.
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When asked about the situation regarding the gloves dispute, Hearn told iFL TV: “We received messages saying they’re not going to fight if we wear those gloves. And we said ‘look, the gloves are sanctioned by the British Boxing Board of Control.’ And then they said ‘well, then there’s no fight.’ But that didn’t get back to Conor. That’s just stuff we deal with all the time.”
The boxing promoter added: “We said ‘go on then, pull out of the fight.’ I believe they spoke to the Saudis or whatever, but they just carried on. You have a rules meeting, a British Boxing Board of Control inspect the gloves. They didn’t like it because it had some horse hair in it – which is standard. Virtually every pair of gloves has horse hair in it in some respect and they just didn’t want him wearing the gloves. I think it was the same gloves Liam Smith wore when he stopped him (Eubank Jr). But in the end, we just said ‘crack on,’ and it just kind of evaporated.”
Despite all the drama, the pair would go head-to-head in the end on Saturday night. After a strong start from Benn, Eubank Jr’s experience prevailed in the second half of the contest. Eventually, the latter would go on to get his hand raised after securing a unanimous decision victory.
“I knew I was capable of that. I just needed someone to bring it out of me,” said Eubank Jr. “I didn’t expect Conor to be the guy to do that. I didn’t know he had that in him, I thought I would break him early. I underestimated him, I didn’t prepare for a fight like that. The fact our fathers fought years ago brought out a different spirit and I am happy to have my father with me. He needed to be here. All this is because of him.”