Via Barry Holbrook: Organizer Eddie Hearn says he is not interested in his inactive middleweight Conor Benn match with Liam Smith despite his impressive fourth-round defeat to Chris Eubank Jr on Thursday night. Seven weeks ago in Manchester, England.
Hearn says that Smith (33-3-1, 20 KOs) is middleweight without any “relation” to the career of undefeated Benn (21-0, 14 KOs), who is currently still waiting for the World Boxing Council’s investigation to be completed so he can return to their rankings.
Interestingly, instead of Hearn wanting to do the Smith-Benn fight, he’s still interested in comparing 26-year-old Benn to Eubank Jr (32-3, 23 KOs).
At this point, it’s likely there won’t be much interest from the boxing world seeing Eubank Jr have a lousy knockout against Benn in 157th or 160th place.
The only thing Benn got after his fight with Eubank Jr was a payday because he wouldn’t be respected if he won after what Liam did last weekend. With Hearn still wanting Benn vs. Eubank Jr, it sends the message that this is only about the money and not about how good Conor is actually trying to prove himself.
– Conor Nigel Benn (@ConorNigel) January 25, 2023
If Benn wants to fight a middleweight, he should focus on those who are active in their careers, undefeated and the top guys in the division.
Options for Benn at 160:
- Erislandy Lara
- Esquiva Falcao
- Jaime Munguia
- Janibek Alimkhanuly
- Danny Garcia
- Gennadiy Golovkin
- Ryota Murata
“Liam Smith is a middleweight boxer not really related to Conor Benn’s career. But if we can’t fight Eubank, for me, I’d like to see Conor Benn at 147 and get back on the track of trying to win that world title,” Eddie Hearn said. DAZN . boxing program about the direction he wants to pursue Conor Benn’s career once he is allowed back into the ring.
“Afterward [Eubank’s] Hearn talks about how Benn might want the match against Eubank Jr to be at 160th instead of 157th, the weight they had previously faced. on October 8 before Conor failed a drug test.
“It’s still a big fight. You sell the fight for the competition, on a welterweight boxer all the way up to 160 to fight a guy who has to win to save his career,” Hearn said of Benn vs. Eubank Jr.
