Speaking after the bout, Eubank Sr stated: “He couldn’t move around the ring so he had to. That is legendary behaviour in the ring. Legendary. Conor Benn is an extraordinary fighter. He’s gone pear-shaped somewhere but an extraordinary fighter. You saw that tonight. He wanted to tear. I thought he’d blow out in four or five rounds. he went strong right the way through the fight. I’m so proud of him. That’s my son. I was always going to be here.”
Eubank Sr’s presence at the fight came as a surprise, with the former boxer having previously claimed he wasn’t planning on being in attendance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. On his father’s shock arrival, Eubank Jr said: “Neither was I. It was a big lift. It was one of those things that was special. It was special. He needed to be here. All of this was because of what he did. And we did it again baby.”
It was an epic that will live long in the memory of boxing fans, with Eubank Jr praising the spirit of his opponent during the post-fight debrief. On Benn’s persistence in the ring, he said: “Everything surprised me. I didn’t know he had what he had in him.
“I really didn’t. I thought I’d break him early. I underestimated him. I didn’t train for a fight like that. I didn’t know he had that in him. He’s never shown that but then again he’s never had to show it. He had to show it tonight. So did I.”
There had been fears about Benn’s ability to compete with Eubank, but the Destroyer more than held his own during a fight that could’ve easily gone his way had it not been for a late lapse. Reacting to his performance, Benn said: “I don’t know. Maybe fourteen months out of the ring played a factor. That’d be the only thing – inactivity. Apart from that, I felt like it was a close fight. I’m not going to go, ‘Yeah I think I won it.’ and all that, I’ve got to watch it back. I know it was close. I stayed on the ropes maybe a bit too long. He worked harder towards the end. But I’ll have to watch it back. But I enjoyed it and a massive thank you to all my supporters who came out.”
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