Got your breath back after Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua at the weekend? Good, because British boxing’s stellar 2022 is only just getting started.
After AJ poured his heart and soul into his rematch with Usyk, losing on points, and Tyson Fury beat Dillian Whyte at a full Wembley Stadium in April, Chris Eubank Jr’s showdown with Conor Benn may yet top the lot.
Twenty-nine years after their fathers met for a second time, a split draw which followed their initial meeting – a Eubank victory – rather unexpectedly, the next generation got their heads together to agree on an October 8 clash at London’s O2.
The fight could have sold out a far bigger venue. But the intrigue around this fight, at a catchweight of 157lb, between 32-year-old middleweight Eubank and welterweight Benn, 25, will ensure it crosses over from the boxing heads to the mainstream.
Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, promoter of ‘the Destroyer’, believes for DAZN it will be ‘the biggest pay-per-view we’ve ever done’, while Eubank says he will be ‘finished if I let Conor Benn beat me in this fight’.
It would certainly be a huge breakthrough for Benn to beat the bigger, more experienced man although Eubank believes he will be ‘drained’ by the weight and only at ‘60 per cent’ of his usual strength.
There is a rehydration clause which will see the Hove fighter reportedly fined a six-figure sum for each pound he comes in at over the agreed limit.
This Saturday, X Series debuts at the O2 with social media megastar KSI – the YouTuber, rapper and boxer – taking on not one but two opponents as he attempts to take influencers’ boxing mainstream.
Original opponent Alex Wassabi pulled out earlier this month so KSI – like Joshua from Watford – will box footballer-turned-rapper Swarmz
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