Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr might fight again, and Tony Bellew wants to see it happen soon. The former cruiserweight champion shared his thoughts on the potential rematch in a recent interview.
Benn and Eubank Jr finally met in the ring this April after almost three years of build-up. Their first scheduled fight got cancelled, but when they did face off, Eubank Jr won by unanimous decision after 12 rounds.
The fight started with Benn throwing and landing heavy shots. As the rounds went on, Eubank Jr, being the naturally bigger man, took control.
Bellew talked about the fight and a possible rematch with talkSPORT Boxing.
"The right man won on the night. It'll only sit Conor Benn well the experience, the championship level, he's been in with a much bigger guy. I'm excited to see the rematch. It's got to happen."
Bellew thinks the rematch needs to happen soon because of weight issues. He explained:
"They can't avoid it and go separate ways. If Conor goes back to 147 he ain't gonna be fully ready to go back to 160 straight away, he can't do it. And for Chris Eubank Jr he cannot go anywhere near anything else but 160, cause the minute Chris Eubank Jr goes to 168 he ain't coming anywhere near 160, so it's got a very short lifespan this rematch."
The former champion believes an earlier rematch would favor Benn:
"It's got to be done the sooner the better. If I'm being honest, the sooner it happens, in my opinion, it favors Conor Benn, cause he's the younger fighter, he's taken much less damage. He's had much less a career, much less experience. For someone like Chris Eubank Jr it's going to take a while to recover, a while to turn around, cause that was a hard fight for him, he was shook a number of times, he felt the shots … So was Conor … But ultimately [it's] the younger you are in this game, and Conor is a young man."
Benn wants to take the contracted rematch to avenge his loss. Eubank Jr has said he'll give fans another great fight. But Chris Eubank Sr has a different view – he thinks his son should retire from boxing altogether.
The BBC reported on the first fight between Benn and Eubank Jr, which ended in a unanimous decision victory for Eubank Jr. Now, fans will have to wait and see if and when the rematch happens.
