Conor Benn’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, says he wants him to fight “smarter” against Chris Eubank Jr. to avoid throwing so many wild punches in their rematch on November 15 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Tottenham in London.
(Credit: Mark Robinson/Matchroom)
Fighting Smarter for Victory
Benn (23-1, 14 KOs) lost his cool, fighting wildly in his 12-round unanimous decision loss to Eubank Jr. (35-3, 25 KOs) earlier this year on April 26. Although he didn’t gas out, he took a beating in the later rounds due to Eubank Jr. figuring him out. He knew he could nail him with combinations when he was just loading up on single shots.
The Pursuit of Payday
“Everyone is in the game for different reasons. Eubank, no shame in at all, it’s money,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to the media today following the Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn 2 kickoff press conference for their rematch on November 15.
You can’t blame Eubank Jr. for fighting for the love of money. If you look at many of the top fighters in boxing, they’re completely focused on money. That’s why once they get a nice payday, they tend to focus on exclusively targeting other fights that will bring them the same pay. Money is obviously important to Conor Benn as well, because if it wasn’t, he’d have rejected the rematch and focused on trying to get a title shot at welterweight.
“Conor Benn, of course, he cares about money. But for this fight, all he cares about is redemption. That experience he gained will be critical in this fight. We still got to go to war, but he’s got to be a little cuter. He can outbox Eubank. He’s better than Eubank technically, but he’s got to be smart with it,” said Hearn,
Benn has got to fight a lot smarter this time because he looked like a wild man inside the ring last April, throwing shots with knockout intention and often missing by a mile his intended target. This allowed Eubank Jr. to unload combinations. He was doing that anyway, but Conor’s missed shots made his job earlier.
Taming the Inner Wild Man
It’s still doubtful whether the hot-headed Benn can fight smart because he tends to fire back in anger when he’s nailed by a hard punch. We’ve seen that his entire career, and last April was no exception, in his loss to Eubank Jr.
Conor is a lot like his dad, Nigel Benn, in how he wants to get immediate payback after he’s hit. Nigel was in countless wars during his career. Conor takes after him, and he may not be able to change.
