Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn put on a phenomenal fight in London on Saturday night, going back and forth and back again en route to a Eubank Jr. win via unanimous decision (watch highlights here).
Both men had big moments and Benn nearly managed to put Eubank Jr. down in the 8th round, but it wasn’t enough to get him over the top. The judges saw it 116-112 for Eubank, which did not capture how close the fight really was, to put it lightly. We had it 115-113 Benn in our play-by-play, but there were a lot of close rounds.
Any disagreements over the scoring of the first fight may be settled relatively soon, though, as Saudi boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh has already announced plans for a rematch between Eubank Jr. and Benn which is being targeting for September.
And because Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was so electric with 65,000 boxing fans going mad all night, Alalshikh hopes to bringing the fight back to the same location, barring scheduling issues with soccer.
“If they’re not injured and ready, we want the rematch in late September at Tottenham,” Alalshikh told The Ring’s Mike Coppinger. “The British fans were amazing and I thank them.”
Injury was a serious concern as Chris Eubank Jr. was rushed to the hospital following the fight with what many whispered was a broken jaw. But Eubank’s promoter Ben Shalom released a statement denying there was any serious damage.
“There is no truth to the rumors regarding a broken jaw,” Shalom wrote. “As part of his standard post-fight protocol, Chris went to hospital for precautionary checks to monitor his vitals and ensure everything is in order.”
If no one is seriously injured, the rematch should fall into place easily. The initial deal signed by Alalshikh was for two fights, and everything is already laid out and agreed to, including thorny subjects like how much money each fighter will make.
We’re pretty curious about that figure. Reports had Eubank Jr. getting a $10 million purse for the first fight (minus the $500,000 he’ll lose for coming into the fight .05 of a pound overweight) while Benn is making around $8 million. Will the numbers remain the same for the second fight? Regardless, the fans are in for a treat should this fight come together again as planned.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
