Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn had two epic fights in British boxing’s biggest feud filled with drama, blood and a must-see TV interview – now their sons will continue the rivalry

Despite all the X-rated threats boxers throw at each other, it was a relatively innocent jibe that sparked British boxing’s biggest blood feud between Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank – when the latter said: “Boxing is a cup game.”

Benn, ferociously tough, was a raging bull who never needed a red rag. But this one did the trick. That summed up everything he despised in his great middleweight rival. This Eubank – with his jodhpurs, monocle and country gentleman persona – had a superiority complex above his own sport.

Londoner Benn, a former soldier who pleases the East End crowd, would never accept this. The rivalry – which would be continued a generation later by the couples’ sons – became so heated that even the signing of the contract for their 1990 showdown was shown live on ITV.

This gorgeous slice of drama saw Eubank sit with his back to Benn throughout, refusing to even look at the man next to him. “Tell him to face me,” Benn said, glaring with such mischief Eubank could probably feel the glare burning a hole in the back of his designer suit. “He’s all about fashion – and I can’t wait to give him a good, good stash.”

Eubank fired back in his own style. “Let’s have parliamentary procedure here,” he warned after Benn cut him off to call Eubank’s latest opponent “another road sweeper.” Still, the two had more in common than they cared to admit. Eubank had grown up in poverty, been kicked out of school and left London at the age of 16 to live with his mother in New York’s notorious South Bronx, where he first learned to box. time.

Two of Eubank’s older brothers were journeyman boxers and he regularly declared his contempt for the sport, while “Dark Destroyer” Benn embraced his working-class roots. “I find the man intolerable, he is so wild,” said Eubank. “I don’t have time for such people.”

Their confrontation was billed as “Who’s fooling who?” — a nod to the fact that both men had called the other a fraud. Benn, 26, was a pre-fight favorite and it wasn’t all about his popularity. He had responded to his only career loss, when he arrived ill-prepared and was stopped by the underrated Michael Watson, in style. Benn had rebuilt in the United States, beaten quality opponents and won a world title.

Eubank had an unblemished record of 24-0, but there was truth in Benn’s road-sweeping barb: His record was one who’s who’s not of 160-pound boxers. Against Benn, Eubank not only progressed in class, he had to deal with a barrage of pre-fight mind games. Ambrose Mendy, Benn’s manager, did everything he could to destabilize the challenger in a crowded Birmingham NEC, including turning off his entrance music.

Instead of strains from Tina Turner’s “Simply The Best,” Eubank had to end her walk in the ring to a cacophony of boos and taunts. The 24-year-old dunked it, growling and preening, before his trademark leapt over the top rope.

The intensity of the crowd and the unease between the fighters spilled over into the first round. Nominally, Eubank was the boxer and Benn – with 25 knockouts in 28 fights – was the puncher. But both had the ability to go to war in the trenches and, forgetting any feeling process, began to load up with vicious power shots from the opening bell.

The action ebbed and flowed, Eubank dangerous with sharp uppercuts and counters, Benn having success with his demolishing right hand. A titanic fourth-round uppercut from Benn caused Eubank to bite a gash on his tongue. Terrified that he was swallowing so much blood that doctors might stop the contest, Eubank hid the extent of the injury in his corner.

The rhythm was relentless. Richard Steele, the American referee who was third man for fights such as Marvin Hagler-Tommy Hearns and Julio Cesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor I, later called it the most dramatic fight he had ever refereed. Eubank looked to have a slight advantage in round eight, but was caught with an overhand right and slid to the canvas – a knockdown he protested but correctly counted.

The end was near, but not for the man who had just scored the knockdown. Benn was a point ahead on two judges’ cards going into round nine, but the champion – who would have struggled to gain weight – was hurt by a straight right hand from Eubank. He remained standing, but ran out of gas when his rival poured him down and Steele finally stopped the fight with just five seconds left in the round.

Eubank, usually so stately with his addresses, was tearful and rambling afterwards. After a proposal to his partner, Karron, he praised Benn. “He’s the toughest puncher I’ve ever met in my life – this man is just an animal,” Eubank said through swollen lips. “I’m in too much pain to really speak, it’s excruciating.”

Benn, his left eye swollen and closed, added that Eubank had won his admiration. “What a terrific fighter he is, he deserved it man.”

Mutual respect would not last. Both fighters went unbeaten for the next three years, winning world titles at 168 pounds before an inevitable rematch at a sold-out Old Trafford in 1993. Both men were even bigger stars and the hype was somehow still bigger. Around 18 million viewers in the UK watched on ITV, with the live action preceded by Jonathan Ross hosting a special one-hour pre-recorded interview with the duo.

In front of a “celebrity audience” (Ulrika Johnson, the cast of EastEnders, Wolf of Gladiators), Ross probed Eubank’s love-hate relationship with boxing, while a shuddering Benn replied, “I wish let him get out of the game. We don’t need people like him quitting the game.

Living in Manchester, Eubank this time was able to position himself throughout his routine with music before his jump over the top rope (“The ego has landed,” said wise commentator Reg Gutteridge). Benn emerged to the chimes of Big Ben and while the fight couldn’t live up to the full-throttle action of the first, it was intensely cat and mouse. A craftier Benn outplayed Eubank – whose work rate was usually not his forte – early on but was docked a point for low kicks and was tiring by the end.

The final lap saw the two weary warriors empty the gas tank, before the verdict: a split decision draw. The point deduction had cost the distraught Benn a victory, but if anyone felt worse than Benn, it might have been Don King.

The wily American promoter had an ironclad contract saying he could promote the winner and loser of the contest in the future. But King had nothing in the deal about what would happen if neither man won or lost, rendering his deal pointless – a rare case where Don was absolutely at a loss for words.

Talk of a third fight lingered for a while, given the violent drama of the first contest and the close nature of their second, but never materialized. Surprisingly, the pair actually became on good terms upon retirement – ​​their boiling hatred eventually died down. But whether that truce would survive the build-up to a fight between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn is another matter altogether.

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