Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn ‘should be cancelled’ as footage emerges | Boxing | Sport

Scottish boxer Josh Taylor called for Chris Eubank Jr’s fight with Conor Benn to be cancelled after footage of their weight cut emerged. Eubank Jr weighed 0.05lb over the 11st 6lb middleweight limit for their bout and was fined £375,000 as a result.

The 35-year-old shared his brutal weight cut on social media with the caption: “Pain is temporary… Glory is forever.” He stood drenched in sweat before stripping his clothes off and wearing a sauna and sweat suit, prompting concern from his supporters.

Taylor echoed their fears, writing: “I think it should be called off. Eubank looked terrible and he has a rehydration clause chucked in there on top of that as well. I think this is potentially a very disastrous night for boxing waiting to happen. I desperately hope this is not the case.”

When it was put to Taylor that horse racing jockeys go through a similar process, he hit back: “Jockeys don’t get punched in the head repeatedly for up to 36 minutes after such weight cuts. What an utterly stupid comparison to make.”

Eubank Jr claims to often put on 14lb after a weigh-in and is permitted to hit a maximum limit of 170lbs at a second weigh-in due to a rehydration clause. He weighed in at 169.4lbs and avoided another huge fine.

Benn insisted that his opponent was “looking for excuses” amid calls for the clash to be cancelled, writing: “Christopher who are you trying to fool and get sympathy from, I’m coming UP to your weight.

“A weight you’ve made your last 3 fights and most of your career! It’s like you’re looking for excuses already? First time you’ve ever missed weight and first time you’ve ever posted a weight cut.”

But in a stinging rebuttal, Eubank Jr admitted he was in pain but that it was no comparison to the struggles he has gone through in his personal life.

“The weight is painful, I’m in pain right now. I’ll be in even more pain tonight and tomorrow morning,” Eubank Jr said at a press conference.

“But the question I ask myself is: ‘What is pain?’ My own father, a man I idolised for my entire life, doesn’t speak to me. We haven’t spoken for years. He thinks I’m a disgrace. These things are what pain is to me.

“I have a 31-year-old brother, he is buried in the desert in Dubai. That’s pain. I have his son Raheem, three years old, he asks: ‘Why can’t I see my daddy, why can’t he take me to school?’ That’s pain.

“If I can deal with all of these trials and tribulations, then the weight-cut and the rehydration clause, these are all things that are not an issue.”