Eubank Jr vs Benn LIVE: Press conference latest updates and start time

With Chris Eubank Jr a natural middleweight and Conor Benn having to come up two divisions to face him, there is a special hydration clause that will restrict either man from ballooning to more than 170lbs on fight night.

This poses a fresh challenge for Eubank Jr, who in his 14-year professional career has never been faced with the issue of making weight on fight day before.

“Uncharted territory,” he told Sky Sports. “It’s one of those things that when a challenge is put in front of me, I don’t shy away from it. It excites me.

“The real weight cut doesn’t really come until the week of the fight for most fighters. It’s tough. I’m not going to lie. It’s not fun, it’s not nice. It’s part of the sport having to boil yourself down to a certain weight.

“Adding in the fact I can’t even drink as much as I want after the weigh-in adds another element of discomfort, hardship to what I’m going through.

“But this is what we sign up for. This is what we do as professional athletes. As elite-level fighters we have to go through these trials, these tribulations. I’ve been doing it my entire career so I have no doubt that the weight will be made.”

A lot has been made of the weight class chosen for Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn.

The fight is being fought at middleweight (160lbs), with Benn required to move up two divisions from welterweight (147lbs) to fight Eubank Jr. This is up from the weight limit of 157lbs agreed for the initial fight in 2022, before it was cancelled.

Eubank Jr is a natural middleweight and has also competed at super-middleweight (168lbs), so will possess the weight advantage.

However, there is also a hydration clause that will restrict either man from weighing more than 170lbs on fight night.

“As such, the stewards of the board fined Chris Eubank Jr the sum of £100,000.”

Chris Eubank Jr made the headlines when, during the obligatory face-off at a February press conference, he fashioned an egg from his pocket and cracked it across the cheek of Conor Benn with his left hand.

From there, things devolved into chaos. Benn, standing with his father Nigel, completely lost control as both fighters had to be held back by security guards.

The stunt was a reference to the WBC saying in 2023 that “elevated consumption of eggs” was a “reasonable excuse” for Benn’s adverse drug-test findings, which prevented the pair from throwing down in October 2022.

Following the incident, Eubank Jr took to social media to say: “Apparently egg contamination was the reason for his two failed drugs tests. So I contaminated him with an egg.”

Chris Eubank Sr believes money has blinded his son from morality inside the ring, insisting that there’s no getting through to him.

The older Eubank doesn’t want his son to fight Conor Benn who is moving up weight classes for Saturday’s clash. He fears that could cause significant damage to the fighters and hopes to avoid such a feat.

 “He won’t listen to me,” Eubank Sr said. “He is looking at all the money. What does the dad do if the son won’t listen? Then the dad has to come and speak to the public directly.

“My son will not listen. For him, he’s being drawn into the however many millions, the money he’s being paid. The point I’m making again is we have a duty of care to fighters.”

It is rare in the boxing business for two fighters to hate each other after a fight. Rare, but it does happen, and it is nasty when it happens. On Saturday, Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr will fight for family pride, millions of pounds and to try to settle a personal score. It is doubtful that the end of the fight will be the end of the hostilities.

Their fathers still circle each other whenever they are close; if Michael Watson is present, the tension will ease. The dads met in 1990 and 1993. “I have no idea why we never had a third fight – I wanted to, I still hate him,” Benn said in 1997.

Benn and Eubank were opposites on both sides of the ropes, but that is not the reason that hate drove their fights, pushed the pair of them to bloody wrecks each time they faced each other. It was far more than just being opposites.

“I’m so sad Chris [Eubank Sr] is not here, it’s a family affair,” Nigel Benn told Sky Sports at the public workouts on Wednesday ahead of the fight between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn.

“I don’t like to see a father and son fall out publicly; sort out your issues behind closed doors and make up. I wish Chris didn’t say that about his son publicly.

“Regardless of him smashing the egg, he’s not a disgrace. He’s done really well for himself, [Sr] shouldn’t be saying that in public about his son, and I’m sad about that. I wish Chris backed his son.”

Nigel will be in his son’s corner, but Eubank Sr is expected to be absent after condemning the match-up and hitting out at Jr for slapping Conor with an egg in February.

Eubank Sr has become estranged from Chris Eubank Jr in the months leading up to the bout, which comes more than three decades after he settled his own bitter grudge with Conor’s father Nigel Benn.

With emotions high, Eubank Sr broke down when discussing his son’s upcoming bout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, blasting both Eubank Jr and the promoters for the letting it happen.

“ The smaller guy in Conor Benn has had his career destroyed for one fight. My son coming down from 168lb to 160lb puts his life in danger,” said Eubank Sr.

 “My son is having to boil himself down to 160lb. Three years ago, they were talking about him coming down 157lb. This is daylight murder. And when I say murder, you say that’s a bit too strong.

“Yes, my brother died at the hands of the promoters – 20 losses and 27 fights, being brought in as fodder. I’m speaking from experience, it’s real for me. My brother died, frontal lobe dementia – the promoters are responsible for that.

“We have to protect the fighters and the biggest example of this is Michael Watson. I am so hurt by what’s happened to him and this is the situation they’re putting my son in now. They’re destroying Conor’s career if they haven’t already destroyed it.

“This is a disgrace, and if you don’t think this is a disgrace, fight me. I said it and you all need to say it to actually make the Boxing Board of Control do something. We can’t run amok. We are not a country of baboons.”