At the end of June, it was announced that Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr would renew their rivalry on 20 September.
However, by 17 July, Team Benn were concerned Eubank didn’t want to fight. Three days later, Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn was declaring the rematch “dead”.
Now, less than a month down the line, the fight is back on – this time for 15 November.
The driving force behind a new date being confirmed was Turki Alalshikh, who caught both teams completely off guard when he originally announced the September bout.
Eubank did not comment publicly on that announcement and is yet to on this one. In June, it was perhaps an indication that he didn’t want that date or wanted to look again at the terms of the first bout which included a fight-day rehydration clause.
Their first bout was like capturing lightning in a bottle. A carefully managed event that had no business happening but did. And it was fun to watch.
Can organisers recapture the same magic? We know Eubank can make the weight. We had the incredible WWE-style arrival of Chris Eubank Sr on fight night. We saw a weight-drained Eubank do enough to keep the smaller Benn at bay for a comfortable points win.
Will the rematch produce the same intrigue? We shall find out, presumably in November.
