Conor Benn said today that he thinks he rewatched his fight against Chris Eubank Jr. from last Saturday, and he “won by a point” in their 12-round middleweight clash at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. He says he’s not going to “cry over spilled milk” by complaining about the outcome. Benn is utterly deluded.
I hate to break this to Conor, but he didn’t come close to winning. It was 9-3 in Eubank Jr’s favor, and he was lucky the fight wasn’t stopped in rounds 11 and 12 because Benn took a royal beating.
Eubank Jr.’s Shift
The judges had it 116-112, 116-11,2, and 116-112. Many fans felt that Eubank Jr. (35-3, 25 KOs) swept the last nine rounds from round four on. Eubank Jr., 35, struggled through the first three rounds when he chose to fight on the outside, but from round four, he changed his style and fought on the inside.
Benn showed zero ability in close and took a bad beating from round four through twelve. Rounds 11 and 12 were fierce to watch because Conor was getting hammered nonstop with rapid-fire combinations from Eubank Jr. and close to being stopped.
“I watched the fight back and I thought I won it by a point,” said Conor Benn to Ring Magazine, talking about his clash against Chris Eubank Jr. last Saturday.
“Chris Eubank Jr. is done at 160. He should be moving up in weight, and he should be chasing down a fight with Canelo,” said Adam Catterall to TalkSport Boxing. “Conor Benn, his stock rises out of the fight. He’s not a 160, and even forget about 154. ”
I agree with Adam. Eubank Jr. needs to focus on fighting Canelo Alvarez next, not running it back needlessly with Conor Benn. We already saw that fight. The rematch will go worse for Benn, who will likely get knocked out. His stock is sort of high because he went 12 rounds with a middleweight, albeit an old domestic-level one.
It would be a different story if Conor went 12 rounds with middleweight champions Janibek Alimkhanily, Erislandy Lara, or Carlos Adames. Then it would be really saying something about Benn, but it’s not a big deal that he went the distance against an old nonachiever like Eubank Jr., because he’s never risen above the domestic and European level during his career.
“If he can get down to 147, he’s changed my mind about him becoming a world champion. I think he can beat the likes of [WBC welterweight champion Mario] Barrios and really achieve something magnificent.”
Targeting the Weakest Link at 147
Beating Barrios for his WBC belt wouldn’t make Benn “manificent.” If he defeats Barrios, who is viewed as the weakest link at 147, he’d only be duplicating what tiny Gervonta Davis and the ring-rusty Keith Thurman already did. Conor Benn probably can beat Barrios, but so can many other fighters at 147. He’s just a guy who was elevated to his WBC title through email.
Barrios is coming off a 12-round draw against Abel Ramos (28-6-3, 22 KOs) last November in a fight that many boxing fans saw as a clear victory for Ramos.
The champions that Conor can’t beat at 147 are Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis [IBF and WBA] and Brian Norman Jr. (WBO]. Those guys are way good for Benn, and I doubt that promoter Eddie Hearn would dare match him against them because he would know the end result would go badly for him.
Last Updated on 04/28/2025
