Conor Benn came up short in his quest to gain bragging rights for his family against Chris Eubank Jr.
The two men met at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday, 30 years on from when their fathers Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr collided in two epic clashes in the 1990s.
It was now the turn of the sons to carry on the rivalry, but it was Eubank Jr who got the last laugh, defeating Benn by unanimous decision to ensure that he and his father are still yet to ever taste defeat to the Benns.
Eubank Sr had been outspoken about the fight throughout the build-up, but he surprised everybody by turning up on fight night, meaning that both Eubank Jr and Benn had their fathers in their corners for the fight.
After seeing his son Conor lose the first fight of his professional career, Nigel revealed during the post-fight interviews exactly what he thought about the bout, sharing his pride for Conor but admitting there was one area he felt his son needed to improve on.
“I thought he did really well. He learnt a lot from this and will come back stronger. He was working too much on the ropes, he should have been off the ropes.
“We’re not taking anything away from Chris, it’s his night. We can handle defeat gracefully. We’ll go back to the drawing board.”
There was a two-way rematch clause for both men in the contract, and Benn senior told Pro Boxing Fans:
“You can’t to 160, then drop down to 147, then come back up to 160. Stay at 160, have the rematch, and then come back down to your weight. Then we’ll be happy.”
Promoter Eddie Hearn has said he will discuss Benn moving back down to his natural weight instead of the second fight against Eubank.
