‘Let’s play’: Hearn still intent on making Eubank Jr vs Benn, targets early 2025
A Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn fight has had tremendous difficulties coming to pass, but not everyone is ready to let go of the idea.
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn hasn’t yet given up on his dream of putting together this generation’s version of Eubank vs Benn, despite having hit several roadblocks in previous attempts. Chris Eubank Jr has openly stated that he’s still interested in fighting Conor Benn, and Eddie Hearn is all for it and expects that they might be able to put it together in the first quarter of 2025.
Hearn on Eubank Jr naming Benn as being on his hitlist
“Chris Eubank Jr has got one thing on his mind, it starts with ‘m’, ends with ‘y’, and it’s got ‘one’ in the middle. It’s spelled ‘money,’ it’s all he cares about. He ain’t bothered about legacy, he ain’t bothered about championships, he wants the monies. And the monies are to fight Conor Benn.
“So, Chris Eubank Jr, you can say about this fight, say about that, but if you want the monies, let’s play. And we will play in the first quarter of 2025.”
On Benn’s current situation
“Same as. We’re waiting on a decision, he’s dealing with things with his lawyers. He will be ready to fight hopefully at the end of this year, but without doubt in early 2025 and he’s ready to go straight into that Chris Eubank fight, for the monies.”
On Eubank also calling out Billy Joe Saunders and whether we’ll ever see him back in the ring
“I hope so. Billy Joe is a tremendous fighter, but every day that passes is a day that makes it less likely...it’s a long time out of the ring but the biggest problem for Billy is — it’s a double edged sword — he’ll want to say ‘well give me a date and give me a plan’ and we will want to say or someone else will say ‘well you got to show us that you’re eight or nine weeks away’ because I don’t want to book the venue, book everything, and you pull up in training.
“Like he can’t probably get focused without the date, without the opponent, like a lot of fighters. So I would like to see Billy take himself away and do a seven or eight week pre-camp to his real camp, come back and say ‘look, I’m here, let’s go.’