Chris Eubank Jr’s brother Sebastian died in Dubai in 2021 when he suffered a heart attack, while his dad labelled him a “disgrace” for slapping Conor Benn with an egg at an earlier media meeting
Chris Eubank Jr insists the pain of making weight pales into insignificance compared to the death of his brother and the snub from his father. The British fighter will boil down to the middleweight limit of 11st 6lb on Friday ahead of his clash with bitter rival Conor Benn ahead of their family grudge match on Saturday night.
Eubank Jr, 35, was goaded by Benn about being a “fat boy” and go “get the weight off” in a degrading slur at a heated press conference on Thursday night at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But the Brighton boxer dismissed it being traumatic to make the weight in comparison to bigger problems in his life. Eubank Jr’s brother Sebastian died in Dubai in 2021 when he suffered a heart attack while swimming.
While his dad, two-weight world champion Chris Sr, labelled him a “disgrace” for slapping Benn with an egg at an earlier media meeting and said this fight should not go ahead.
Eubank Jr said: “The weight is painful, I’m in pain right now. I’ll be in even more pain tonight and tomorrow morning. But the question I ask myself is, ‘What is pain?’
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“I have a 31-year-old brother, he is buried in the desert in Dubai. That’s pain. I have his son Raheem, three years old, he asks: ‘Why can’t I see my daddy, why can’t he take me to school?’ That’s pain.
“My own father, a man I idolised for my entire life, doesn’t speak to me. We haven’t spoken for years. He thinks I’m a disgrace. These things are what pain is to me.
“If I can deal with all of these trials and tribulations, then the weight-cut and the rehydration clause… these are all things that are not an issue.”
Both fighters will be penalised £300,000 per lb they are overweight for today’s actual weigh-in which takes place at around 11am with a show event later in the day for media. There is then another weigh-in on the day of the fight and they cannot put on more than 10lb or they’ll also face financial penalties.
Unbeaten Benn, 28, insists he is not feeling the heat ahead of what is the biggest fight of his career as he looks to settle a family rivalry lasting 35 years which began when their fathers, Chris Sr and Nigel, fought in 1990.
He said: “No pressure, I live for this. It’s just focussing on the preparation. I’m fully dialling in. I won’t lower myself to Chris and go back and forth. All the PR is done. I’m excited to get in and put my hands on him.
“It’s always personal. I am a very emotional fighter. He’s another man but I won’t be losing to a fighter whose name is Eubank.”
