What does 0.05lbs get you? If you’re Conor Benn it’s a high-end Rolls-Royce, complete with champagne table, whiskey table, mink carpets, carbon fibre trimmings, shooting stars dotted into the ceiling of the interior.
It’s the car he bought with the $500,000 levied on Chris Eubank Jr for missing weight ahead of their first fight in April.
Benn sits back in his seat, his own initials stitched into the headrest naturally, and wonders what he’ll buy if Eubank fails to make weight ahead of their rematch.
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“I’ve bought a Ferrari,” he laughed, “but it’ll contribute to it.”
He may have chalked up a victory on the scales ahead of the previous fight, but it was Eubank Jr who won the decision in the ring.
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We’re diving into the most explosive boxing face-offs caught on camera including Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn and Lennox Lewis vs Mike Tyson!
Benn has material comforts, but he is driven to avenge the loss.
“If I was scared or not a proper fighting man, would I have given the public this fight? Probably not, no. I’m the one jumping up two weights at the end of the day,” Benn told Sky Sports.
“He couldn’t lose the first one, you’re fighting a welterweight for God’s sake. You’ve got to think that was the second time going 12 rounds in my whole career.
“I’m about to tuck him in on Saturday.”
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Chris Eubank Jr says he’s ‘fresh and hungry’ ahead of his rematch with Conor Benn and gives his opponent credit for his performance in their first fight
The two have reprised the rivalry of their famous fathers, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr, whose saga lit up the British boxing scene in the 1990s.
Benn is adamant that he will end Eubank Jr’s career after this next contest. “I think Chris will retire after this fight,” Benn said.
“He’s fighting a welterweight. Just look at the landscape. He isn’t going to stay at 160lbs and fight a Janibek [Alimkhanuly] or a [Hamzah] Sheeraz, for half the money. It doesn’t make sense.
“He’s fighting a welterweight,” Benn emphasised. “I’ll drop back down to welterweight and carry on pursuing my goals and dreams at 147. This is my final fight at 160.”
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Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn shared an intense face-off ahead of their rematch in November
He was first meant to box Eubank Jr in 2022 at a catchweight, but that contest was nixed after Benn returned an anti-doping violation. When he was cleared to box in the UK, the fight was eventually made for April of this year, this time at 160lbs, with a fight-day weight check, and a rematch.
“It’s been the bane of my life for the past three years. So I just can’t wait for this to be done and over with and I can just move on with my career,” Benn said.
He wants to record a victory over Eubank Jr, but he is also determined to pursue a world title.
“My goal is to win a world title at welterweight,” he said. “Right now my goal is to get back down to welterweight. I have the best team, nutritionist, a chef to get back down to 147.”
Mario Barrios, the WBC belt-holder, is his target: “I’m going to the WBC convention in Thailand straight after the fight to get that sorted.”
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Speaking to the Toe-2-Toe podcast, Conor Benn says that he was ‘too emotional’ heading into the first fight with Chris Eubank Jr and explains the gameplan for the rematch
But he added: “There’s plenty of world title opportunities for me to get, whether it’s Barrios, [Ryan] Garcia, Rolly Romero, these are the fights that are being talked about after the fight, straightaway.
“Brian Norman, any of these guys. I’ll fight any of these guys.”
A $500,000 car is perhaps the perfect setting to ponder what really motivates a fighter. Wealth and winning titles don’t always come hand in hand in professional boxing.
Eubank Jr after all is a non-title bout. An ageing Manny Pacquiao, who came out of retirement to draw with Barrios, might be the most lucrative fight for him after Eubank Jr, but wouldn’t have a world championship attached to it.
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Conor Benn reflects on his grudge match with rival Chris Eubank Jr earlier this year, and says his motive coming into their rematch will be different
“How much money do you need? Or how much money do you make? I feel like I’ve put three years of my career aside for this fight. To the point now where I wouldn’t be complete if I retired a multi-millionaire and didn’t have the world title,” Benn said.
“I’d be upset with myself… I don’t know. It doesn’t sit right with me. I get money is everything, you need money to live but ultimately for me, to have the money and the belt that’s perfect.
“Enough of Chris, enough of the Eubank/Benn names, I just can’t wait for it to be done and over with and just move on with my career.”
