As the long-awaited grudge match between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr approaches on April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, boxing legend Roy Jones Jr – Eubank’s former coach – has shared a blunt piece of advice for Benn.
Jones, who coached Eubank in the build-up to their originally scheduled 2022 bout, and during his 2023 loss to Liam Smith, believes that defeat was a turning point. “Chris learned in the Liam Smith fight that you can’t underestimate nobody,” Jones said on the George Groves Boxing Club podcast. “That loss woke him up. If he takes that lesson into this fight, he’ll be fine.”
Benn, returning to the UK after two comeback wins in the U.S. and the lifting of his provisional anti-doping ban, faces a bigger, more experienced rival—and Jones didn’t sugarcoat what he believes Benn must do. “He has to take a page out of his dad’s book,” said Jones. “He’s not gonna outbox the bigger man. He has to stop him.”
The build-up to the fight has already seen bad blood boil over. At the pre-fight press conference, Eubank threw an egg at Benn—a mocking reference to Benn’s positive drug test and the WBC’s bizarre suggestion that clomifene could have come from egg consumption.
“I bought the cheapest, oldest, crustiest eggs I could find,” Eubank told Ariel Helwani. “That’s what this kid deserves.”
With family pride, personal redemption, and a 25-year rivalry being reignited, April 26 promises to deliver one of boxing’s most intense showdowns in recent memory.
