Conor Benn enters Saturday’s fight with Regis Prograis armed with the conviction that comes from his two fights against Chris Eubank Jnr.
Their date at a catchweight of 150lbs on the undercard of Tyson Fury-Arslanbek Makhmudov at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is his first since successive dates with Eubank Jnr at middleweight – one on which he endured his first defeat and the other his biggest win.
Before his rivalry with Eubank Jnr, Benn had been a career welterweight, and Eubank Jnr had succeeded in high-profile fights as heavy as at 168lbs. They largely fought toe-to-toe throughout the first fight that was edged by Eubank Jnr – when Benn found answers to many of the questions he had asked himself – and, by comparison, the extent of Eubank Jnr’s decline meant that Benn then won their rematch with ease.
The date with the 37-year-old Prograis is one for which Benn is the significant favourite, but more relevant to him than the former junior welterweight Prograis’ size and age is the increasing self-belief that he will take into the ring.
“You don’t know you’ve got it until you’ve got to go through it,” the 29-year-old told BoxingScene. “It’s delusional until you’ve done it. For me to say ‘I can jump up to middleweight and have a war with a middleweight…’. I’m not no middleweight. I’m definitely not a middleweight. But you sit there and you go ‘Am I delusional, or is everyone else right?’ ‘Is the population right or am I delusional?’ It sat with me for ages. ‘But I can’t be delusional.’ And I was right. You’ve got to back yourself.
“The first fight, for me, was sweeter than the second. The first fight, it took a part of my soul. I left a lot of my soul in there. I gave everything I had. Blood, sweat, tears – not just in the fight but in the camp. And I come away feeling proud, but also a sense of disappointment. It was so mixed. I was happy that I had that fight but I was so disappointed I lost. Then, the second fight again, was like, ‘I need to show that I can adapt and learn and come back from this, and lick my wounds and come back a better fighter,’ and that’s exactly what I done.
“I don’t think winning a world title will trump that night. Family pride; family legacy; family feud, and generations, and it felt like the country come to a standstill for the two fights, and it’s a pleasure to be involved in them two fights and do what we said we was gonna do.
“A lot of fighters can’t adapt. They can’t learn; they can’t change; they can’t grow. That was what I wanted to show in the second fight, that I can go back, lick my wounds and cry – of course I cried – and just try and be better and do better. That was my goal, and I done that.”
Eubank Jnr had previously demonstrated his heart during the course of a one-sided defeat by the heavy-handed George Groves and also in the way that he responded to some of his other defeats.
Benn, by comparison – not unlike Eubank Jnr, thriving off the back of the profile delivered to him via his association with his famous father – had confronted far fewer tests of his abilities and mental strength.
“People said ‘nepo kids’, ‘silver-spoon kids’ – to be able to win Fight of the Year by The Ring Magazine and the British [Boxing] Board of Control is an accomplishment in itself, ‘cause if you look at the statistics and the odds, we weren’t raised in poverty,” the Englishman said, perhaps aware of the extent to which the young Prograis’ life was changed by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. “We weren’t raised in difficulty. We weren’t raised in the setbacks people have in life that make them the champions that they are. It just goes to show being a champion comes from something deep inside you, not just winning a title. A champion comes from being a champion in life.
“Every fight presents a different test. Every fight presents different questions you need to answer. I’m excited to be fighting back at my weight, but I think it’s going to present different questions. Completely different style; different ring size; different everything. I’m excited for the challenge that I think he’ll bring. But I’m feeling very sharp; explosive; very strong, at this weight. In terms of confidence, I feel less nerves fighting in a stadium. It’s my third stadium show in a row now, back in the UK. It’s a blessing.”
