By Scott Gilfoid: Eddie Hearn dismisses the idea of a catchweight fight between welterweight Conor Benn and middleweight contender Chris Eubank Jr.
Benn is the equivalent of a money-making machine for Matchroom Boxing, and it doesn’t matter that Hearn has been putting him in with exclusively old, over-the-hill fighters. With Benn’s famous last name, Hearn doesn’t need to match him against opposition with talent.
Eubank Jr. is close to being washed up as well, but he still has power in his sneaky left hook. You’d hate to see what Eubank Jr. could do to Benn if he landed that left hook smash on his chin.
Conor Benn = Money-making machine
British fans want to see Conor fight due to him being the son of the famous Nigel Benn. Hearn isn’t going to mess up the money-making potential of Conor by having him move up to 154 to fight the bigger, stronger, and more experienced Eubank Jr. (32-2, 23 KOs).
At this point, Benn would have a decent chance of beating Eubank Jr, because he looked something awful last Saturday night against Liam Williams, but Hearn isn’t going to take the risk with Benn.
He’s like the famous Spindletop oil well in Beaumont, Texas, faithfully pumping out money by the truckloads year after year. This is the oil well that started the Texas oil boom in 1901.
Benn is the new money-making replacement Matchroom, the guy to take over now that Anthony Joshua is past it and about to be retired in 2022.
Benn isn’t going to stop producing the gold for a long, long time if Hearn is careful with him.
Although Hearn believes a fight between the unbeaten Benn (20-0, 13 KOs) and Eubank Jr. would be “HUGE,” he’s got other plans for the 25-year-old Conor.
Hearn says he wants to get Benn back in the ring in April, and his long-range goal for him is to have him win a world title at 147. Benn is expected to fight 32-year-old former WBO light welterweight champion Maurice ‘Mighty Mo’ Hooker next in April.
Hearn has been banging the drum loudly for a fight between Benn and Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen next.
For that to happen, it’s going to require waiting on Benn’s part for the current champions Errol Spence Jr, Yuriorkis Gamboa, and Terence Crawford to age out or one of the 147-lb titles to fall vacant.
Given that Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr. are ranked high in the top five rankings at 147, even when one of the belts falls vacant or one of the champions gets old, Benn would likely need to face one of those two talents.
Unfortunately, Benn hasn’t improved enough lately for him to be considered a lock against Boots Ennis or Vergil Jr.
Hearn rejects Benn vs. Eubank Jr fight
“It’s a HUGE fight. You would need Eubank to come down to 154, which would be difficult, and you would need Conor to go up to 154, which would be difficult,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV on the problems relating to trying to put a Benn vs. Eubank Jr. catchweight fight together.
“But our aim for Conor is to win a world title at 147,” Hearn continued about the possibility of matching Benn against Eubank Jr. “They’re at different stages in their careers.
“Conor is just starting out really at that level, and Eubank is coming towards the end. I think he’s 33, 32, something like that. But I’d love to talk to [Eubank Jr’s promoter] Kalle [Sauerland] about it.
“It’s a huge fight, but right now, I’m focusing on April. A fight announcement is coming soon for Conor Benn,” said Hearn about Conor’s likely next fight against Maurice Hooker.
