The rebirth of one of boxing's biggest rivalries: Benn vs. Eubank

Editor's note: This story was originally published in March 2022 but has been updated ahead of the Chris Eubank Jr.-Connor Benn fight on April 26, 2025.

One of boxing's bitterest rivalries -- just as vicious today as it was 35 years ago -- will once again grip the attention of boxing fans on Saturday.

Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn face each other in a non-title middleweight encounter in front of 62,000 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, in what will be the third time their families have met in grudge fights.

It is an intense rivalry that runs deep. Conor was not even born while Chris Jr. was a baby when Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank first fought for the WBO world middleweight title in 1990. Three years later, their rematch for two versions of the world super middleweight title was an even bigger clash.

It has been an acrimonious build-up to Chris Jr. vs Conor, three years after they were initially scheduled to meet only for Benn to test positive for a banned substance which caused the fight to be cancelled.

Thankfully, we never saw Benn, 61, and Eubank, 58, meet for a third time in recent years -- there was talk of it -- but an intriguing and high-quality fight between their elite-level sons allows us to remember one of boxing's most entertaining rivalries.

Conor, 28, and Chris Jr., 35, have their own beef, but their families' history makes this fight such a spectacle, especially for fight fans in the United Kingdom.

Just how big were Chris Sr and Nigel?

Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn were more widely known to the mainstream audience in the U.K. in their primes than their sons are today. The pair's personalities and backgrounds became familiar to millions around the U.K. who lapped up their public bickering. In the days when boxing was available to watch on free-to-air television, Benn and Eubank became household names in the U.K..

If Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez have been boxing's biggest stars in recent years, Benn and Eubank were the equivalent on British shores along with heavyweight Frank Bruno in the early 1990s.

When Benn and Eubank had their second fight in 1993, in front of 42,000 at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United, it was a smaller crowd than the 62,000 who will be at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to see Chris Jr. vs. Conor. However, Eubank vs. Benn II was watched by 16.5 million on free-to-air television around the United Kingdom and in 60 countries around the world, millions more than what will watch Chris Jr. vs. Conor.

"Boxing on terrestrial television used to stop the country in the 1980s and 1990s," said Jim Rosenthal, who was presenter on ITV for Eubank vs. Benn.

Benn and Eubank boxed at the same time as Roy Jones Jr, Michael Nunn and James Toney, but they never fought the Americans in world super middleweight title unification fights which would have resolved arguments as to who was the division's No. 1.

However, Benn was known to U.S. audiences since he won the WBO world middleweight title when he stopped Doug DeWitt in Atlantic City in 1990, and later that year blew away Iran Barkley inside a round in Las Vegas. Benn also defeated Detroit's Gerald McClellan, a fearsome knockout specialist and world middleweight champion, in a tumultuous fight which attracted global interest in 1995.

Eubank, originally from south London, was not as well known outside of the U.K. in the 1990s, but he turned professional on American soil after moving to New York as a teenager to live with his mum in the South Bronx district and learned his trade at gyms in the Big Apple. In 1988, Eubank moved to Brighton, England, and never boxed in the U.S. again or against a top American fighter. But that did not stop Eubank achieving a public profile a lot larger than his son's, aided by his unorthodox style, strutting, vaulting into the ring, dress sense and bizarre antics.

There were bigger fights at home for Eubank whose preposterous posing, unashamed arrogance and eccentric behaviour outraged and entertained the public.

Chris Sr. and Nigel's popularity also extended beyond fighting each other: Benn vs. McClellan in 1995 and Eubank vs. Michael Watson in 1991 both attracted 13 million UK free-to-air television viewers.

What happened in Eubank vs. Benn I and II?

Benn, from east London, who served five years in the British Army before his professional debut in 1987, had a late struggle to make weight ahead of the first fight in Birmingham in November 1990. Benn, who had stopped his first 22 professional opponents began full of aggression and his attacks to the body slowed down Eubank, who bit through his tongue when he was caught by an uppercut in Round 4. Eubank bravely recovered though, and he landed some big shots to close one of Benn's eyes due to swelling, and overwhelmed Benn with a volley of unanswered shots in Round 9.

"I urinated blood for two or three days," Eubank said after the fight.

Harry Mullan reported in Boxing News that it was "the most thrilling contest I have ever watched in a British ring".

There had to be a rematch, but Eubank kept Benn waiting. He twice fought and beat Michael Watson, who was left with life-changing injuries from the second fight held at White Hart Lane, which has been rebuilt and renamed the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium where Conor faces Chris Jr on Saturday. Some easy match-ups followed for Eubank, until the October 1993 rematch with Benn.

Barry Hearn, dad of Matchroom promoter Eddie who guides the career of Conor, Frank Warren and Don King promoted the fight with Benn getting £1 million, and Eubank £850,000. In their first fight, they had shared a £250,000 purse.

The rematch was a lot bigger than the first fight with global interest. It also proved to be a bigger fight than the heavyweight clash between Lennox Lewis and Frank Bruno which took place the week before Eubank vs. Benn II.

But the super middleweight title unification fight was not as ferocious as their first encounter.

When Eubank vaulted over the ropes into the ring at Old Trafford, ITV commentator Reg Gutteridge brilliantly told viewers: "The ego has landed."

Benn, known as the 'Dark Destroyer', rocked Eubank in Round 4, but Eubank responded with a good Round 5. Benn suffered a setback in Round 6 when he was crucially docked a point for a low blow. Benn had some good moments in the second half of the fight, and rocked Eubank in Round 10 before producing a strong last round to finish another classic, close encounter. It ended a draw, which left Benn furious, but many could not split the two.

'Eu Robbers' was the headline in the Daily Mirror newspaper.

"Just what do I have to do to show I'm the better fighter? I'll never like him, but I'll fight him again," Benn said.

It was set up for a third fight, but it never happened.

Is the sons' rivalry even more intense than that of their dads?

Eubank Jr. smashed an egg into Conor's face at a press conference to publicise Saturday's fight earlier this year, and the pair have had to be restrained at other meetings.

History is repeating itself as their fathers' bitter rivalry had its own pranks.

When Eubank was making his way to the ring for his first fight with Benn in 1990, he was caught by a sucker punch he never saw coming.

Eubank was getting in the zone in the final moments before the biggest fight of his life and first of 24 world title fights, expecting to hear his entrance song of Tina Turner's "Simply the best."

But Eubank's focus was interrupted when someone -- under instructions from a member of Benn's team -- pulled the plug on the sound system at the NEC in Birmingham.

Without his usual entrance song, which had become as part of watching Eubank fights as his posturing mid-fight, Eubank walked to the ring without music and to the sounds of mostly jeers.

Eubank might have been familiar and comfortable with the role of the heel, but being victim of a prank like this, by Benn's team, was an unwelcome deviation from his pre-fight routine. But this was typical of the hostility between Eubank and Benn, which made for good publicity and compulsive viewing.

"I find the man intolerable," Eubank said 35 years ago. "He has no class as I see it."

"I personally do hate him," Benn said, and repeated it, as he sat next to Eubank and signed a contract for their first fight in a TV studio in 1990.

Benn said to Eubank "I will f***ing kill you" in response to Eubank's comment he will end up working in a nightclub, also in 1990.

Benn, like other opponents of the Brighton-based boxer, was infuriated by Eubank who claimed boxing was a "a mug's game."

"It is like two minds which are miles apart, a street brain and a society brain," Eubank said of his rival.

Even after their boxing careers, when they were both on a TV show called Gladiator in 2003, the pair clashed on the set and had to be held apart after a shoving match threatened to boil over into Benn-Eubank III.

In more recent years, Benn and Eubank have been reconciled and could perhaps be both ringside to see their sons swap blows in north London.

Are the sons better than their dads?

Benn (42-5-1, 35 KOs) and Eubank (45-5-2, 23 KOs) were both two-weight world champions, while their sons have yet to hold a full world title belt between them.

While Benn and Eubank might trail other British super middleweights Joe Calzaghe and Carl Froch in terms of achievements, they are among the biggest figures in British boxing history, and also the most successful. Apart from two fights against Eubank, Benn's other big win came against Gerald McClellan, the American who was left paralyzed and blinded by injuries suffered in the stoppage loss to Benn. Benn, whose career ended in 1996 after the second of two defeats to Irishman Steve Collins, won world titles away from home in the U.S. and Italy. He made one WBC middleweight title defence, and made nine defences.

Eubank also twice lost to Collins and his career finally finished in 1998 after three successive defeats, to a young Calzaghe and twice to Carl Thompson up at cruiserweight. After perhaps his career-best win over Benn in 1990, Eubank made three WBO world middleweight title defences, and then moved up to win the WBO super middleweight title against Watson, who was left with life-changing brain injuries. There were other wins over Thulani Malinga and Graciano Rocchigiani for Eubank, who finished with a world title record of 17-5-2.

Chris Jr. (34-3, 25 KOs), from Brighton, and Conor (23-0, 14 KOs), 28, who grew up on the Spanish island of Mallorca and in Australia, are both highly ranked (No 4 and No 5 at middleweight and welterweight respectively in ESPN's latest divisional rankings) and are among the most high profile boxers in the U.K. They may not achieve the same feats as their fathers did, but world title fights are a possibility for both after such a high profile fight this weekend if there is not an immediate rematch.