Conor Benn’s former opponent Chris Algieri doubts Benn’s ability to overcome the size disadvantage he will confront against Chris Eubank Jnr.
The 28-year-old Benn and Eubank Jnr finally fight on Saturday at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, following the cancellation of their original fight date in October 2022.
Benn twice tested positive for the banned substance clomifene and subsequently relinquished his boxing license, remaining inactive from then until September 2023.
While he has consistently maintained his innocence, it has taken until 2025 for Benn to receive permission to again fight in Britain. It was inevitable that a date with the 35-year-old Eubank would be rearranged when he did, but unlike in 2022, when they were on course to fight at a catchweight of 157lbs, Benn, a career welterweight, agreed to fight at the middleweight Eubank’s natural weight of 160lbs.
The retired Algieri was stopped by Benn in 2021 in what represented his final fight. Benn fought only once more – also at welterweight, when stopping South Africa’s Chris van Heerden four months later – before the reality of his positive drug tests emerged.
In his two fights since then, Benn has fought and won at junior middleweight – he convincingly defeated Rodolfo Orozco and Peter Dobson, but both fights went the distance – and Algieri, despite perhaps having reason to promote Benn’s chances of victory, has questioned whether he can hurt an opponent who has previously won high-profile fights at 168lbs.
“Benn’s going to come out of the gate blazing and look to catch him early,” Algieri told BoxingScene. “Does he have the power to get rid of the bigger guy early? He’s shown in his last two fights [against Rodolfo Orozco and Peter Dobson] he doesn’t.
“If Benn can’t hurt Eubank, he can’t win. When this was first announced in 2022, I favored Benn. I thought Benn was going to knock him out. But since the drug allegations and the two performances since, I would say Eubank is most likely to win, on points.
“Eubank should win this fight. He’s much bigger; Benn is coming up two weight classes. But Eubank has looked shaky. Liam Smith – very much underrated – was a much smaller guy coming up and got that vicious stoppage.
“When he fought Kamil Szeremeta [in October], he looked pretty shaky in that fight, too. Benn’s gonna have to be aggressive; he’s not gonna outbox Eubank. The longer the fight goes, I’d favor the bigger man; the guy more used to the weight.”
Declan Warrington has been writing about boxing for the British and Irish national newspapers since 2010. He is also a long-term contributor to Boxing News, Boxing News Presents and Talksport, and formerly the boxing correspondent for the Press Association, a pundit for BoxNation and a regular contributor to Boxing Monthly, Sport and The Ring, among other publications. In 2023, he conducted the interviews and wrote the script for the audio documentary “Froch-Groves: The Definitive Story”; he is also a member of the BWAA.
