How to watch or stream Chris Eubank Jr v Conor Benn
The Guardian will have round-by-round updates, analysis and instant reaction in this space.
In the UK and Ireland, the fight will be broadcast on DAZN Pay-Per-View at a cost of £19.99 for existing subscribers or £27.98 for new subscribers. Sky Sports Box Office will also carry it for £19.95. talkSPORT Radio will provide live audio commentary for free.
In the US and Canada, the fight will be broadcast on DAZN Pay-Per-View at a cost of $24.99.
DAZN is streaming the fight live in more than 200 countries.
Key events
Donald McRae
The Tottenham Stadium looks almost full as the main undercard fight between Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur reaches the halfway stage. This is a 60,000-plus crowd that currently seems more enthused by the musical breaks than the boxing. I am not sure too many were watching closely, but they missed young Aaron McKenna utterly dominate a proud old fighter in Liam Smith. McKenna calls himself ‘The Silencer’ and I’ve followed him closely for a few years and been with him in dressing rooms before fights. I always knew he was good; but tonight he was outstanding as he won a near shutout victory and knocked Smith down in the last round. He has moved up to a significant level – not that the Tottenham crowd cared much. They will only really start making noise once the undercard is over.
Chris Eubank Jr has successfully made weight on fight day, avoiding a second costly penalty ahead of tonight’s long-awaited grudge match against Conor Benn.
The British rivals both satisfied the rehydration clause in their contract, which required them to weigh no more than 170lb on Saturday morning. Eubank Jr tipped the scales at 169.4lb, while Benn – the naturally smaller man – came in comfortably lighter at 165lb, according to event promoters.
It’s a relief for Eubank Jr after Friday’s hiccup, when he came in half an ounce over the official middleweight limit of 160lb. That minor miss triggered a hefty fine of £375,000 ($500,000), paid directly to Benn under the terms of their agreement.
Having cleared today’s threshold, Eubank Jr wasted little time declaring himself ready. “Fight day weigh-in complete. Rehydration restriction is over. Now all that’s left to do is rock up to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tonight & make history,” he posted on social media.
The weigh-in drama added yet another twist to a rivalry already years in the making – a family feud passed down from their fathers, Chris Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn, who fought two ferocious battles in the early 1990s.
More than 65,000 fans will pack into a sold-out stadium tonight for the latest chapter, one that has survived cancelled dates, drug test controversies and now a fine in the eleventh hour.
Donald McRae
At around 8.15 the muted hum that had settled over the stadium was replaced by a huge cheer as the big screens dotted around this vast arena lit up with a surprising sight. Chris Eubank Sr stepped out of a suitably fancy car to the delight of a suddenly animated crowd that could not quite believe the old fighter had changed his mind and decided to attend in support of his estranged son. Those cheers then turned into guttural roar as Eubank Jr appeared to greet his father.
They walked together in a magnificent sight … and it made such a stirring contrast from the words Eubank Jr had said to me last week when I interviewed him: “He’s obviously spoken out about how he is against this fight and wants to stop it. So it looks like I’ll be on my own on the night.”
He also spoke movingly at a press conference this week when he said the pain of his weight-cut was nothing compared to the seeming breakdown of his relationship with his dad: “My own father, a man I idolized for my entire life, doesn’t speak to me. We haven’t spoken for years and he thinks I’m a disgrace. These things are what pain is to me.”
Of course Eubank had already told me that he and his dad had talked in early March … but the conversation had been “up and down”. But all the anguish of missing weight yesterday, and facing another rehydration weigh-in this morning, was forgotten as the Eubanks were reunited. No one seemed to care if it was a canny ploy – it looked and felt like a genuine reconciliation.
Five minutes later, the backstage cameras cut to the sight of Benn in his underwear. The sustained booing that erupted told its own story.
A couple of gamers are posted up near ringside, locked into Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves – the video game lending its name (and budget) to tonight’s event. Brave new world. Boxing’s collision with gaming sponsorships was probably inevitable, but seeing controllers in hand just a few feet from the ring while awaiting the co-main event still feels like an odd glimpse of the future.
Meanwhile, Matchroom’s social media team appears to be leaning in to the chaos.
Aaron McKenna UD 12 Liam Smith
Aaron McKenna has just won a one-sided unanimous decision over Liam Smith. The 25-year-old Irish middleweight dominated the action from the opening bell, punctuating a brilliant coming-out performance with a knockdown in the 12th round. The judges’ scores were 119-108, 117-109 and 118-108.
One more undercard fight before the main event: a scheduled 12-round light heavyweight scrap between Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur.
Chris Eubank Jr has made his way into Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, accompanied by a face few expected to see: his father, Chris Eubank Sr.
Their fractured relationship has been a quiet backdrop to this fight. In recent months, Eubank Sr has publicly criticised his son’s behavior, calling him “a disgrace” after the infamous egg-slapping incident. Eubank Jr, for his part, spoke this week about the deep personal pain of their estrangement.
Seeing them together tonight is a small but significant development. It may not erase years of distance, but it suggests a willingness, at least for one evening, to close ranks.
Preamble
Some fights are for world titles. Some are for pride. And some, like tonight’s encounter between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn, are fought for something even more intangible: family honor, old grievances and the vague promise of generational closure.
More than 65,000 have filled Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to witness two sons shoulder the unfinished business of their fathers, who once battered each other into British boxing folklore. No belts are at stake. Only legacies, and the looming specter of a two-way rematch clause.
The build-up has been predictably chaotic. The egg incident (don’t ask), the scrapped 2022 fight after Benn’s positive drug tests (later pinned, creatively, on an overzealous diet of eggs), the fines for slapstick misbehaviour, and now a £375,000 penalty after Eubank Jr failed to make weight by half a mouthful of water. In boxing, these things pass for tradition as much as farce.
At 35, Eubank Jr carries the experience, the size and the scars. His final press conference turned unexpectedly raw when he spoke about the death of his brother and his estrangement from Chris Eubank Sr, who has publicly disowned him in recent months. “Pain,” he said, is not a rehydration clause; it’s being asked by your nephew why his father isn’t coming home.
Benn, 28, enters as the lighter, angrier man, keen to shed the baggage of the doping scandal that torpedoed their first meeting. He’s been fighting (and winning) in hotel ballrooms in America while clearing his name, but this is another world entirely: a giant stadium, a global spotlight, and a family name that, for better or worse, guarantees attention.
Neither man has held a major world title. Neither has entirely stepped out of the long shadows cast by Chris Eubank Sr and Nigel Benn. But for all the absurdities of the past few years, there is real peril and real intrigue tonight. Conor Benn fights like a man trying to punch a hole through history. Eubank Jr, sometimes infuriatingly composed, sometimes thrillingly reckless, fights like a man who still wants to prove something – even if it’s only to himself.
The promoters, classically understated as ever, have billed it as a “British Hagler-Hearns”. That remains to be seen. The hope is that, somewhere beneath the lawsuits, late-night weigh-ins and £100,000 eggs, there’s still a proper fight lurking.
Stay with us for live updates, round-by-round coverage and, knowing this lot, probably a few more plot twists before the final bell.
How to watch or stream Chris Eubank Jr v Conor Benn
The Guardian will have round-by-round updates, analysis and instant reaction in this space.
In the UK and Ireland, the fight will be broadcast on DAZN Pay-Per-View at a cost of £19.99 for existing subscribers or £27.98 for new subscribers. Sky Sports Box Office will also carry it for £19.95. talkSPORT Radio will provide live audio commentary for free.
In the US and Canada, the fight will be broadcast on DAZN Pay-Per-View at a cost of $24.99.
DAZN is streaming the fight live in more than 200 countries.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Barney Ronay’s take on tonight’s grudge match.