Chris Eubank Jnr has paid the fighters who lost out when his date in 2022 with Conor Benn was cancelled.

Their fight in October 2022 was abandoned just days in advance when it emerged that Benn had failed two drugs tests.

His provisional suspension was lifted in November, contributing to a new date of April 26, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, being confirmed.

At the press conference to announce it, the 35-year-old Eubank Jnr said that he would pay those undercard fighters whose fights in October 2022 were also cancelled as a consequence, and challenged Benn, 28, and Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn – one of those overseeing their original fight date – to do the same.

“From my purse for this fight I will be giving £50,000 to the fighters on that undercard to split between them to cover some of their losses,” he had said. “I’m not doing this for awards. I hope Eddie and Conor both put up their own £50,000.” 

If it was tempting to conclude that he was simply taunting his rivals and self-promoting, he has since made payments. “Got to respect Eubank Jnr,” the light heavyweight Lyndon Arthur posted on social media. “He actually paid what he said he would.” 

Ellie Scotney, the IBF, WBO and WBC super-bantamweight champion, posted: “Just checked my Eu-BANK statement and Chris was as good as his word. Thank you.”

The former WBA bantamweight champion Shannon Courtenay, also on social media, posted: “Man of his word. Thank you Chris Eubank Jnr.”

There was a further post from Adam Booth, Eubank Jnr’s former trainer – their association didn’t end positively – which read: “This is unheard of in our business. Kudos to Chris Eubank Jnr.”