Tony Bellew believes the Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn fight ends inside five rounds next weekend.
The former cruiserweight world champion is the latest to offer his prediction for this middleweight contest, which will see Benn move up two divisions from his natural class to challenge the more experienced Eubank.
The fight – set for Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 26 – is a rescheduling of their original date back in 2022, canned due to Benn testing positive for a banned substance. Now free to fight on home soil, he has vowed to knock Eubank out, though the question remains as to how he will handle the jump in weight.
Bellew believes he will do so well, saying in an interview with First Round TV that he sees the 28-year-old scoring a stoppage in the first half of the fight – something he believes Benn must do before Eubank’s size comes into play.
“I think it’s a fight of two halves. My heart always says Conor, I love the kid, he’s a good kid with a good heart. But if this fight goes past six rounds is a hard night’s work. I should say eight rounds, cause Conor is extremely fit. It’s just when it gets to the stage that weight and size is a factor it shows.
“But I think Chris Eubank is a terrible boxer, he’s a better fighter than boxer. I’m saying Conor Benn in the first five rounds. I think he’ll catch him and nail him and jump all over him.”
In a seperate interview, the retired champ branded Benn ‘ferocious, brutal and vicious.’
“If [Benn] feels any kind of exhaustion, that last thing you want to do is be in with a bigger man. It’s two fights in one, first six Conor will be so ferocious, so brutal, so vicious, I think he gets the job done.
“If he doesn’t get the job done by round six, that’s why weight divisions exist. Benn is a far better fighter than Eubank is a boxer. And that’s the problem he’s having, he’s got in his mind he’s a masterful boxer, no you’re not.”
Eubank has said that he will retire if he loses.
