In the end, the sons walked heavily in the footsteps of their heroic fathers during a night of raw emotion at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn had promised many things during the years and weeks before the first bell; they then went out and delivered on every single promise. Eubank won, nobody lost. It was a fight for family pride and not for any other trinkets that we bless our boxers with.
It was also a fight at a severe price and when the final bell sounded in front of 67,000 people, they could barely stand or talk as they each fell exhausted into the arms of their fathers. The Eubanks had once again done enough, the Benns were left defeated but dignified at the finish. It seems almost tacky to talk about scores, but we got this fight, and the two epics fights between the dads, because of the scores: Now, it is Eubanks 2, Benns 0 and one draw. It is not over, don’t panic.
In the fight’s tearful aftermath, the two dads and the two sons swapped embraces and words – it was an emotional end to a brutal fight. They each talked about respect, they talked about rest and Benn talked about a rematch.
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Benn had set a frantic pace early in the fight, Eubank seemed slow, easy to hit, but then Benn slowed a bit and Eubank found his feet. It was both smarter and more savage than many expected. It also looked good with big punches, men trapped on the ropes and some wayward big swings from Benn. It moved from slugfest to smart boxing with slick footwork in a flash; they clashed a few times on the bell to end a round and the crowd loved it.
At the end of the truly incredible eighth round, there was a standing ovation from every single soul at the stadium; nobody was sitting at the bell and people just started applauding. It was spontaneous and very moving and they deserved it. At that point, they had each been pushed to the sport’s harshest places, to places well outside the normal limits of sacrifice and pain. They had swollen faces, sore fists, heavy legs but still they desperately tried to finish each other in the fight’s stunning finale.
It is odd but the last few rounds looked a lot like the first fight between the fathers back in 1990 in Birmingham; the sons wore the same colour of shorts as their dads had worn and perhaps that helped trigger the memory. It could have also been just how obvious the sacrifice and pain was – they pushed each other to new physical extremes. Both fathers were guilty of going to the very limits in fights by simply refusing to lose – the sons clearly have the same obsession with victory.
Eubank was marginally in front, just a bit cleaner and a bit heavier down the gruelling last stretch. They were each ruined at the bell, walking on stiff legs, looking for their fathers and relief. The end and the ring invasion had a real Rocky feel to it. All three scores were identical in Eubank’s favour: 116-112. It could have been a bit closer, but it was not a robbery.
Eubank, the dad, had only decided to attend on the day; the father-and-son ring entry to Tina Turner’s iconic Simply the Best was one of the greatest ever. “I’m happy he’s here,” said Eubank Jr. “It gave me a big lift.” Even Benn praised his rival’s father for showing up. “I couldn’t imagine not having my dad there,” he said. It was all a bit raw.
It was the only possible end to a long week of drama, a long delay and 35-years of feuding between two fighting families. There will never be a total end of hostilities between the two clans, no chance of a peace deal just yet – the desire is too deep to end right now. As it approached 2am, the streets were still gridlocked and the talk about a rematch had started. Saturday night was Eubank v Benn III and somewhere on the horizon a fourth fight is being planned.
