Chris Eubank Jr has stated that the discomfort of making weight is insignificant compared to the death of his brother and the rejection from his father. The British boxer will drop down to the middleweight limit of 11st 6lbs in preparation for his clash with arch-rival Conor Benn in their family feud match tomorrow night. Eubank Jr, 35, was taunted by Benn, who called him a “fat boy” and told him to “get the weight off” in a derogatory jibe at a fiery press conference on Thursday night at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, the Brighton pugilist brushed off the difficulty of making weight as trivial compared to larger issues in his life. Eubank Jr’s brother Sebastian tragically passed away in Dubai in 2021 due to a heart attack while swimming. His father, two-weight world champion Chris Sr, branded him a “disgrace” for hitting Benn with an egg at a previous media event and stated this fight should not proceed.
Eubank Jr expressed: “The weight is painful, I’m in pain right now. I’ll be in even more pain tonight and tomorrow morning. But the question I ask myself is, ‘What is pain?’ I have a 31-year-old brother, he is buried in the desert in Dubai. That’s pain.
“I have his son Raheem, three years old, he asks: ‘Why can’t I see my daddy, why can’t he take me to school?’ That’s pain. My own father, a man I idolised for my entire life, doesn’t speak to me. We haven’t spoken for years. He thinks I’m a disgrace. These things are what pain is to me.
“If I can deal with all of these trials and tribulations, then the weight-cut and the rehydration clause… these are all things that are not an issue.”
Both will face a hefty £300,000 fine per lb if they exceed the weight limit at today’s official weigh-in, scheduled for around 11am, followed by a media event later in the day. Another weigh-in is set for fight day, with a maximum gain of 10lb allowed before financial penalties apply.
Undefeated Benn, 28, remains unfazed as he prepares for the most significant bout of his career, aiming to end a family feud that began 35 years ago when their fathers, Chris Sr and Nigel, clashed in the ring in 1990. He declared: “No pressure, I live for this. It’s just focussing on the preparation.
“I’m fully dialling in. I won’t lower myself to Chris and go back and forth. All the PR is done. I’m excited to get in and put my hands on him.
“It’s always personal. I am a very emotional fighter. He’s another man but I won’t be losing to a fighter whose name is Eubank.”
