By Barry Segal: Promoter Kalle Sauerland says the Chris Eubank Jr vs. Conor Benn fight is still “absolutely on” for October 8th despite Eubank Jr’s dad, Chris Sr, saying that he’s pulling him out of the match due to a 157-lb catchweight.
Sauerland says the contract is with Eubank Jr (32-2, 23 KOs), not his dad Chris Eubank, who wants to pull his son out of the fight.
With the money that the 32-year-old Eubank Jr is going to make for his fight against welterweight Conor Benn (21-0, 14 KOs), it’s quite understandable that he’s not going to walk away from this fight.
“The fight is absolutely on,” said Kalle Sauerland to talkSPORT. “That’s all really I can say to it. I’ve seen it came from one comment to one journalist, which of course, spread like wildfire. The fight is very much on.
“We don’t have a contract with Chris Eubank Sr; we have a contract with Chris Eubank Jr.
The chances of Benn’s career imploding once his promoter Eddie Hearn takes the training wheels off and puts him in with a live dog at 147 are quite high.
That’s why it’s important for Eubank Jr. to fight the 25-year-old Benn now before he gets exposed and his career begins slowly sinking.
If Benn gets humiliated by the likes of Keith Thurman and Yordenis Ugas, two fighters he says he wants to fight, a match between him and Eubank Jr won’t make the same kind of money that it will now.
Benn is a decent prospect, but he hasn’t been in the sport long enough to compete with the talented young welterweights like Jaron “Boots’ Ennis and Vergil Ortiz Jr.
“The contract is between us; that’s Wasserman Boxing and Eubank Jr,” Sauerland said. “So I don’t see what legal route there could be.
Eubank Jr. has the 157-lb catchweight and a rehydration clause that he’ll need to deal with before he steps in the ring with Benn.
It’s going to be awfully tough for Eubank Jr to make not only 157 but also limit the amount of fluids he takes in after the weigh-in for the secondary weigh-in on the morning of the fight.
“He was sparring yesterday; my only issue at the moment is to find sparring partners because he’s going through them like a hot knife through butter,” said Sauerland about Eubank Jr.
