Benn was beaten on points by Eubank Jr in April but will have the chance to avenge his first career defeat when the rivals meet again in November
Conor Benn welled up with emotion during a tribute to Ricky Hatton last night.
Benn was attending a press conference with rival Chris Eubank Jr to promote their November rematch and wore a Manchester City top in a nod to Hatton who passed away on Sunday aged 46. A montage of Hatton was then shown and Benn could be seen on the verge of tears.
Eubank Jr later prevented promoter Eddie Hearn paying his own tribute to Hatton. Eubank Jr has made it his mission not to let Hearn speak in the build-up to his fights but the promoter said: “Thirty seconds about Ricky Hatton,” only for Eubank Jr to retort: “There’s no 30 seconds”.
Benn later admitted he had underestimated his rival ahead of his defeat in April. “It’s always hard processing a loss, no-one prepares to lose. We are fighters, we want to get the victory at all costs,” he said. “It taught me a lot about myself and you will see a better version in November.
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“I take my hat off to him, I needed a dance partner and he was a dance partner. I thought i would knock him out in three or four rounds, that’s what I believed. I underestimated him, he gave me one hell of a fight.
“I’ll be more disciplined and calculated, still the same ferocity but with less emotion. Less reed, when I thought I had him hurt in there, I was too greedy, looking for head shots. It felt like i was always one punch away from closing the show; he looked vulnerable in there, at some stages he looked old.”
Eubank Jr, meanwhile, believes the country’s perception of him has changed since his victory. “What a crazy, crazy world this is,” he said. “For my entire life as a professional fighter I have been the villain and the bad guy.
“Fourteen years and 38 fights of people loving to hate me. I don’t want to get ahead if myself but what I’m seeing online, the interactions I’m having with people all overt the world, I don’t know if I’m that guy anymore.
“It’s not just boxing fans who are approaching me now. It’s little girls and elderly folk, housewives, people who have nothing to do with boxing; they’re all greeting me and wishing me the best of luck.”