Eddie Hearn has said fresh talks are under way around a fight between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr.
The Britons were due to box each other at London’s O2 Arena in October, but the bout collapsed just days before fight night, after Benn returned adverse drug-test results.
Benn, 26, was stipped of his licence by the British Boxing Board of Control, while the WBC later cleared the unbeaten fighter of ‘intentional doping’. Meanwhile, Eubank Jr, 33, went on to fight Liam Smith in January, suffering a TKO loss in the fourth round.
Eubank Jr initially expressed his desire to activate a rematch clause to box Smith again, but Hearn has now said Benn vs Eubank Jr is back on the cards.
“I’ve been asked all night about that,” Hearn told the Daily Mail on Monday (27 March). “Apparently it’s imminent, but it’s not imminent; there are discussions going on.
“It’s the fight I would like to make on 3 June in Abu Dhabi, but it’s definitely not done. It’s become a bit personal between those two now.”
Benn, the subject of a UK Anti-Doping investigation, is currently unable to box in the UK but is allowed to compete elsewhere.
“Those two are privately [messaging] each other every day with obscenities at the moment, and that leads to a great promotion,” Hearn continued.
“Obviously part of me wants to see that fight, after it falling through the last time. We’ve had a couple of offers for Conor Benn to fight internationally, but for me I would prefer Chris Eubank Jr, but we’ll have to see what plays out over the next couple of days.
“I don’t think it’ll be long. [Benn] is training, he’s ready to fight, and within the next week we’ll hopefully have it finalised.”
Benn and Eubank’s fathers – Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr – fought each other twice in the 1990s, in one of British boxing’s great rivalries.
Eubank Sr stopped Nigel Benn in 1990, before the pair fought to a split draw in their 1993 rematch.
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