Eddie Hearn has revealed that Chris Eubank Jr.’s team threatened to cancel his fight with Conor Benn just hours before they were scheduled to enter the ring.
According to recently emerged footage, Eubank Jr.’s team confronted British Boxing Board of Control general secretary Robert Smith regarding Benn’s Everlast gloves. Their complaint centered on the gloves containing horsehair padding, which, although legal, remains controversial compared to modern foam-padded alternatives.
“They’ve got horsehair in them,” complained a member of Eubank Jr.’s team to Smith. The BBBoC chief responded, “The gloves were approved by the British Boxing Board of Control. You should have been here at the beginning. They are done.” Eubank Jr.’s team countered, “This is not okay. We specified all the way through that we don’t want horsehair.”
Smith clarified, “You haven’t involved the British Boxing Board of Control, and the Board of Control are the people that approve the gloves. Those gloves are approved, as these gloves are approved and all these other gloves are approved.”
When asked about the dispute, Hearn told iFL TV, “We received messages saying they’re not going to fight if we wear those gloves. And we said, ‘look, the gloves are sanctioned by the British Boxing Board of Control.’ And then they said, ‘well, then there’s no fight.’ But that didn’t get back to Conor. That’s just stuff we deal with all the time.”
The promoter continued: “We said, ‘go on then, pull out of the fight.’ I believe they spoke to the Saudis or whatever, but they just carried on. You have a rules meeting, and a British Boxing Board of Control inspects the gloves. They didn’t like it because it had some horsehair in it – which is standard. Virtually every pair of gloves has horsehair in it in some respect, and they just didn’t want him wearing the gloves. I think it was the same gloves Liam Smith wore when he stopped him (Eubank Jr.). But in the end, we just said, ‘Crack on,’ and it just kind of evaporated.”
Despite the pre-fight drama, the bout proceeded as scheduled on Saturday night. Benn started strongly, but Eubank Jr.’s experience proved decisive in the second half. Ultimately, Eubank Jr. secured a unanimous decision victory.
After the fight, Eubank Jr. reflected, “I knew I was capable of that. I just needed someone to bring it out of me. I didn’t expect Conor to be the guy to do that. I thought I would break him early. I underestimated him; I didn’t prepare for a fight like that. The fact our fathers fought years ago brought out a different spirit, and I am happy to have my father with me. He needed to be here. All this is because of him.”
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