Chris Eubank vs Nigel Benn: The original rivalry between the revised British box ‘Real Gladiats’

Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank defined the era of British boxing when sports and their unique fierce quarrels are a national conversation.

Their sons, Conor Benn and Chris Eubank JR reprise family rivalry this week when Saturday fights at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, live on Sky Sports Box Office.

That period, when Eubank SR and Benn Sr were at the height of their glory and notification, they felt like golden time for British boxing.

“Absolutely,” said Michael Watson, a major figure in Eubank and Benn’s lives and boxer career, said Sky Sports.

Since it is part of it, Watson said, “This is something I have enjoyed all my life.”

Watson beat Benna when they fought in a tent raised at Finsbury Park and sustained his terrible injuries when he lost to EUBANK in 1991.

Eubank and Benn were special characters. Watson described them as “real gladiators.”

“They are a real job, blessed in character,” he said. “Nigel Benn – the phenomenal power of piercing. Chris Eubank, he is my heart and soul.

“People do not know Chris about their true self, but he is a man of true love and character. Nigel is the same way he is prone. Fighters are the best people on the planet, a real gentleman.”

But the hostility between Eubank and Benn in their combat premiere was true and frantic.

“Boxing is a job,” Watson said. “It’s a job, that’s how it goes.

“It’s a job. It’s fun. It’s good to be a good character to entertain people. It’s all about it.”

By the time Eubank and Benn fought for the first time, the perfect storm was diametrically opposed to the characters who were completely determined to win their opponent. She produced one of the big struggles.

Benn was the WBO Middle Age champion once again, with that wild power, he looked like an unstoppable force when he met Eubank in 1990.

“Eubank appeared like no one else I saw in boxing. The fact that he was so eccentric,” Don McRae recalled, author of the classic book Dark trade And lately Last bellwho covered the fight.

“In the first minute, I had the feeling that something special would take place. I didn’t think it would take a long time. Suddenly Eubank injured Benna. He fell in love, he looked like he could stop him.

“This classic Slugfest developed and it was just convincing to watch. I had the feeling that these two guys went to a dark, dark place.

“Violence … you could only feel it. It was a savage will they both had.”

Eubank almost bitten his tongue when Benn put in the upper cut into his jaw. He gave nothing and fought as Benn mounted in a huge strength.

“You could see Nigel Benn’s eyes poured. It looked like he could barely see him from his eye,” McRae said.

“He has been nailed to Eubank several times. It was the first time we started to realize that Eubank, for all his Dandiism and influences, was actually a hardcore boy with a beard made of granite. Since Benn hit him with some shots that would stop most of the fighters.”

Eubank hurt Benn, scored in return and forced the judge to pull him out in the ninth round.

Bout ended up with a clean, raw emotion on a full screen.

“I think you just have to look at the faces of the two fighters to see the depths of the darkness that they pushed into that fight,” McRae said.

“Since they turned away from each other, it made it for the cash register. But I think the fight just did the boxing of such a powerful thing in the 1990s.”

Their second fight, at Old Trafford in 1993, ended up in the draw, the one Benn and many others considered he deserved to win. The third fight was never made, leaving its rivalry in a sense unresolved.

“I think the hostility between Benna and Eubank has been going on for a long time,” McRae said.

“I think they had a little chip on their shoulders for Benna and Watson because they felt Eubank was lowered. He made them stupid.

“I think they wanted to prove a point against him and I think they wanted to hurt him because the depth of animosity was so deep.”

This has left their rivalry so embedded in British sports that two sons who fight each other are a convincing proposal for names and family legacy only.

The second generation, but the same old struggle.

Watch Chris Eubank Jr against Conor Benn on Saturday 26 April, live on Sky Sports Box Office.