Chris Eubank Jr looked a shadow of his self as he lost his rematch to Conor Benn on Saturday night, leaving the rivals’ series tied at one-apiece
Conor Benn has urged Chris Eubank Jr to consider retiring after his rematch defeat.
Benn dropped Eubank Jr twice in the final round to put a dominant stamp on a career-best performance. The 29-year-old’s victory levelled the rivals’ series following Eubank Jr’s thrilling win in April. But Benn immediately ruled out a trilogy fight to instead focus on winning a world title.
And Benn believes Eubank Jr, 36, should concentrate on life after boxing having revealed he will become a dad to twin boys next year. “I can see him asking for a rematch, but ultimately I think we should let it lie now,” he said. We’ve done what we said we would do, we’ve sold out a stadium twice so let’s call it a day.
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“He’s got more important things to worry about than fighting. He’s won at life with his two boys and if I was him I would look at his reasons for boxing. Ultimately he will be a dad of two and that’s always a priority. It’s not down to me to say whether he should retire but he has bigger things in life now.”
Benn was a man transformed from the angry fighter who lost to Eubank Jr seven months ago. He produced a calculated performance to win almost every minute of every round. But he was aided by his opponent who looked out of sorts from the opening bell.
Eubank Jr refused to be drawn on his future in the immediate aftermath, and said:“We’re not talking about that right now. This is not about me. This night is about Conor. He did what he needed to do to win and he fought a great fight. You guys saw what I was in there tonight. Yeah, I thought once those bright lights hit and that round went, that I’d find something and I tried.
“I tried hard, but it wasn’t there and Conor was strong, was fast and he was tough. Yeah, congratulations to him. You know right now, I’m not really in the state of mind to be thinking about next fights. I need to heal, I need to deal with what I am dealing with and then after that, I can start thinking about my path in the sport.”