‘I was willing to die in that ring,’ says Chris Eubank Jr after two nights in hospital following brutal Conor Benn bout
CHRIS EUBANK JR was happy to risk everything — even his life — to beat Conor Benn.
The 35-year-old Brighton middleweight spent two nights in hospital suffering from dehydration and a damaged eye after a brutal and bloody 12-round slugfest against his bitter rival.
And poker-loving Eubank Jr, who won 116-112 on the cards of all three judges, revealed he went ALL IN to come up trumps at a packed Spurs stadium.
“There was never a moment where I thought I was losing, I was outgunned, I was hurt,” the star told SunSport.
“There were moments in the fight where I knew I was tired, I was dehydrated, but I pushed through that. I didn’t let that stop me from completing the mission.
“I was willing to go out on my shield, if that’s what I had to do. I was willing to die in that ring.
“When there wasn’t any more left in the tank, I still refused to stop. In boxing, sometimes you get asked the ultimate question: Are you willing to go here? Are you willing to do this to win?
“A lot of the time fighters don’t answer the question, they don’t risk it. I risked it. And to be fair to Conor, he risked it, too. But the better man won.”
The 5ft 11in South Coast boxer struggled to make the 11st 6lb middleweight limit and was fined £375,000 after being just 0.8oz over at the first weigh-in the day before last month’s fight.
Eubank Jr finally made the required weight on the morning of the showdown.
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But his whopping fine was handed to Benn, who has since boasted he splashed that on a brand new Rolls-Royce.
Asked about the agonies of that weight-cutting process, Eubank revealed how it could never compare to losing 29-year-old brother Sebastian in 2023 and having to explain to three-year-old nephew Raheem why daddy is not around to take him to school.
He said: “Because of things I’ve gone through, emotion is just not a part of my life. It’s not a part of who I am as a man.
“That enables me to do the things I was doing in the tenth, 11th and 12th rounds. If you’re emotional, you can’t go to those depths.
“Those are dark places you have to go. Most guys are not capable of going there. I can go there and — while I’m going through it — I’m happy.
“I’m enjoying it, as sick as that sounds. I’m enjoying the pain, the suffering and the challenge of what’s happening.
“That’s what a fighter is, a true fighter. Someone who enjoys being in that zone, living there, seeing how long you can last.
“You need an element of emotionlessness and coldness in your mentality. I’m so grateful to be able to go there. It enabled the fight to be what it was.”
The fight with Benn, 28, was a blood-and-guts affair rocketed into the mainstream consciousness because of the iconic two-fight rivalry their double-weight world champion fathers shared.
The eleventh-hour arrival of Eubank Sr, 58 — back into his heir’s life and corner after years of estrangement — was a moment that transcended the fight.
Jr also got a ‘good-luck’ message from little Raheem on Saturday morning and had much-missed Seb’s name and image etched on to his shorts.
“Family is everything,” Junior told us. “The fact that — even at the last minute — we all came together, it meant the world to me. Because I thought I was going to be alone.
“I walked into the weigh-in alone, I saw Conor with his team and dad, and I knew — in my heart, in my mind — that that wasn’t going to be what I was going to have on the night.
“ ’I’m going to be alone on the night, get used to it’. That was what was going on in my head. And for that to switch at the last minute, it was surreal, it was incredible.
“It’s nice to do what you said you were going to do. And to do something fans will remember for a long time.
“The fans put us in these positions. So to be able to deliver to them, that’s all the fighter can really dream for.”
PokerStars ace Chris Eubank Jr spoke exclusively to SunSport from their EPT Monte Carlo. Find out more at www.pokerstarslive.com/ept/montecarlo/