Conor Benn's dad claims his son made a world champion quit during sparring. William Scull's team says that's not how it went down.
At the final press conference before Conor Benn faces Chris Eubank Jr. this weekend, Nigel Benn talked up his son's preparation. He said Conor sparred with IBF Super-Middleweight World Champion William Scull and made him stop early.
Nigel Benn told reporters that the first four rounds were even. Then Scull started to feel it in rounds 5-7. After round 8, Scull couldn't go on.
"Round eight came, and [me and Tony] looked at each other and we thought, he just quit. He stopped. Couldn't take no more after eight rounds. We were meant to be doing ten rounds."
Scull's promoter quickly shot down that version of events. They said the plan was always for 8 rounds with one-minute breaks. It was Scull's first sparring session while Benn had already done some.
"So we said eight rounds, we made eight rounds. I really have to laugh. Show it in the ring that your son had a good one … Even if it [was how he said], nobody speaks about this. Sportsmanship."
The back-and-forth comes after two years of negative press for Conor Benn. Now he's set to face Chris Eubank Jr. in a big domestic clash.
William Scull has his own massive fight coming up. He'll take on Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez for the undisputed crown at 168 pounds next week. It's the biggest fight of Scull's life, so his team wants to make sure he's ready.
