- Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn’s grudge match took one final twist on Friday
- The pair have been foes since their bout was initially cancelled in October 2022
- However, they will finally settle their differences in London on Saturday night
New footage has shown yet another twist in the tale of Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn’s long-awaited grudge match.
The duo will finally settle their differences at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday night, almost three years after their bout was initially scheduled in October 2022 before being cancelled.
The original fight was called off due to Benn twice testing positive for clomifene, a banned substance. The WBC explained that Benn’s two failed drugs tests could have been caused by ‘highly elevated egg consumption’.
In February, Eubank Jr was fined £100,000 for slapping Benn with an egg during a face-off, a symbolic jab referencing the latter’s earlier controversies.
As well as this, the fighter’s have consistently insisted that their clash is ‘personal’ and that their beef is very much real.
And it seems that the bad blood extends past the two fighters, as both of their teams also locked horns ahead of Friday’s weigh-in.
The teams of Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn got into a war of words before Friday’s weigh-in
The conflict began due to the material inside Benn’s gloves – which contained horse hairs
Despite being unorthodox, it is legal for gloves to have horse hair instead of foam padding
The two teams became embroiled in a conflict over the material of Benn’s gloves, which contained horse hair.
The material is perfectly legal but a less-popular alternative to regular gloves which are typically padded with foam.
‘They’ve got horse hair in them,’ a member of Eubank Jr’s team noted.
Smith’s father, Robert, retorted that the gloves were approved by the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) and that that is the bottom line.
He said: ‘Those gloves are approved by the BBBofC. [Eubank Jr’s team] should’ve been here at the beginning, they’re done.’
‘Those gloves are approved, as these gloves are approved and all these other gloves are approved.’
Frank Smith added: ‘Our contract is that the BBBofC approves the gloves, as per every contract we’ve ever done around the world.’
The member of Eubank Jr’s team replied: ‘This is not okay. We’ve specified all the way through that we don’t want horse hair. It’s going to be what it is but that’s not okay.’
Frank Smith, Benn’s co-promoter, told Mazhar Majeed, Eubank Jr’s advisor, to ‘come outside’
Majeed responded by calling Smith a ‘p****’ multiple times before saying ‘come on then’
Tensions then boiled over as Frank Smith got into a war of words with Eubank Jr’s advisor, Mazhar Majeed.
Smith said: ‘Maz, I’m not scared of you.’
As Smith turned his back, Majeed replied: ‘I don’t give a f***. I don’t give a f***. P****.’
‘Come on. Come outside,’ Smith said.
Majeed then called Smith a ‘pr***’ again, prompting the latter to reply: ‘Sorry? You keep turning round and saying it! Come outside.’
After Majeed said ‘come on then’, Smith replied: ‘I’m not going to have a fight with you.’
Tensions finally blew over when someone urged Smith to leave the room and said: ‘We need to organise this, Frank off you go.’
