Eddie Hearn believes that Conor Benn vs. Chris Eubank Jr. could be one of the biggest fights in boxing, and hopes to make the long-awaited clash.
Eubank defeated Liam Smith at the weekend via stoppage, and now an all-British matchup against Benn looks a tantalising prospect once more, after it had to be abandoned last year.
Speaking to The DAZN Boxing Show about his thoughts on the potential clash, Hearn said: “No one expected it, so I think we’ve got to give props. I know Liam wasn’t fit, and he was injured in the fight. You’ve got to give massive props to Eubank, his career was on the line. It was unexpected, but it was also welcome.
“I texted Kalle Sauerland before the fight and said please win, or lose well. It makes the fight one of the biggest in boxing, certainly in British boxing. Some people liken it to Fury-AJ. I don’t think it’s quite as big as that, but it’s not far behind.“We’ve got meetings in London today to talk about that. I think both guys have options, but the reality is that it is the fight for them both. That has become a massive British fight.
“To be honest, I can’t even remember that fight [earlier in the year], but a victory does a lot of things. It rights the wrong of that fight. The fight was always big but a defeat on Saturday would have certainly dampened the size a little. But victory puts Chris right on the crest of a wave.”
Hearn thinks that Benn is now ready to get back into the ring, and could return at the end of this month.
He continued: “Conor is ready to return, we’ll talk about maybe even a fight on that Orlando show, on September 23. Don’t forget he’s been out of the ring for a year and a half now. We’re talking about him going back into a really big, tough fight at 160, which he’ll do but obviously his training team would prefer him to get a little runout first, so we’re working on that too.
“We want to do the fight in the UK. We don’t want to take a massive British fight overseas, but if the money’s there we’ll have that conversation. But the intention is to do the fight in the UK. A lot of places want to bring big fights at the moment, and that’s certainly one of the biggest, certainly in British boxing.”