By Sam Volz: Conor Benn took to social media to do a bit of gloating in reaction to Chris Eubank Jr being knocked out in a shocking upset by his nemesis Liam ‘Beefy’ Smith on Saturday night at the AO Arena in Manchester, England.
Benn let his followers know that Eubank Jr (32-3, 23 KOs) wouldn’t have made it past two if they had fought last October. Eubank Jr would have faced Benn on October 8th if he hadn’t tested positive for the banned PED clomifene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgzPskOOqcs
“What are you saying? It wouldn’t have gone past two, would it?” said Conor Benn on Instagram after Liam Smith knocked out Chris Eubank Jr on Saturday night in their clash in Manchester, England.
Instead of rejoicing about Eubank Jr’s defeat, Benn should be upset because the loss takes all the hot air out of a future fight between them, making it utterly pointless. If the two were to fight now, it wouldn’t attract as much attention because of Eubank Jr’s loss.
Even if Eubank Jr defeats Liam in their rematch, a fight with Benn won’t be as big as it would have been. Additionally, Benn’s two positive tests for clomifene will also hurt interest in a fight against Eubank Jr if he still insists on going in that direction after his drug case is eventually behind him.
Benn might want to try and talk Liam Smith into fighting him because his popularity will have increased after tonight’s win. Of course, Benn will have to wait for the Eubank Jr-Smith II rematch to play out before he can get a shot at either of those fighters.
It would be better for Benn to focus on fighting opposition from his weight class at welterweight rather than trying to hustle fights against fading, flawed fighters like Eubank Jr & Smith.
As good as Liam Smith’s victory was tonight, it didn’t prove he could hang with the top 154-pounders or 160-pounders and expect to win. Smith won’t beat one of the top junior middleweights like Jermell Charlo, Tim Tszyu, Sebastian Fundora, or Tony Harrison.
Eubank Jr’s years of inactivity and his lack of boxing fundamentals caught up to him tonight, with him getting taken advantage of by Smith.
After Eubank Jr’s loss to George Groves in 2018, he fought only five times against mainly lesser opposition from the domestic & European levels. Lack of skills that Groves exposed in Eubank Jr was still there to be seen tonight when he got in there with Smith, a solid fringe contender at 154.
