Chris Eubank Jr pays every single undercard fighter £3,500 just days before Conor Benn showdown
CHRIS EUBANK Jr is paying £50,000 to the undercard fighters who lost out when his first Conor Benn bout was called off.
Ahead of the Brits’ long-awaited family grudge clash on April 26, Eubank is keeping a promise made over the original fight date of October 2022.
It means the IBO middleweight champion will pay more than £3,5000 to each of the boxers who were on the card three years ago.
He posted on Instagram: “After my first scheduled bout with @ConorNigel got cancelled… @EddieHearn & @MatchroomBoxing never compensated anyone for their training camps, which never sat well with me.
“So here’s a little something to help out the undercard fighters that were left out of pocket.”
Eubank added a screenshot of payments he’s made to 10 fighters – with some already replying to thank him.
And at the bottom of his message he added in brackets: “Few boxers didn’t want to give me their bank details… maybe they will now.”
The 2022 bout was cancelled at short notice after Benn failed two drugs tests.
And three months ago, Eubank Jr slapped Benn with an EGG, which was thought to be a jibe at his rival’s explanation for his anti-doping violations.
The son of ex-world middleweight king Chris Eubank Senior also said he would “set it right” after undercard fighters were left out of pocket.
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Nearly all all boxers involved on the card three years back found a rescheduled date almost straight away.
But Eubank Jr said: “The first fight, 20,000 people bought tickets. Hotel rooms, plane tickets, accommodation, planned their whole weekend about this fight and none were compensated by Eddie/Matchroom/Conor.
“Worse than that, the undercard… there were a number of fighters who went through entire camps – they aren’t cheap – thousands if not tens of thousands on trainers, gym fees, nutritionists, physiotherapy, these fighters all paid for their camps, lost all that money and were never compensated.”
The original night had a bumper list of fights down the card.
Eubank Jr’s younger cousin Harlem, Olympic gold medallist Galal Yafai, super-bantamweight titleholder Ellie Scotney and light-heavyweight star Lyndon Arthur were amongst those scheduled to box.
Matchroom have yet to comment on the 35-year-old’s Instagram post about payments.
But Arthur and Scotney have responded graefully.
Arthur wrote on X: “Gotta respect Eubank junior. He actually paid what he said he would off the under card from the 1st one.”
And Scotney even turned into into a witty joke – partly thanks a movie reference.
She posted: “Just checked my Eu-BANK statement and Chris was as good as his word. Thank you @chriseubankjr.”
Scotney added a clip from 1983 film “Scarface” where fictional drug lord Alex Sosa laughs on the phone with main villain Tony Motana -who is seen using a counting machine for his money.
Meanwhile, Eubank Jr is stickings to a tough regime for his meeting with Nigel Benn‘s son at at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium a week on Saturday.
He told Sky Sports: “Every day is a graft.
“Everything is scheduled, it’s strict, it’s regimented. That’s what you have to do to prepare to go to war.
“It’s not fun, it’s not a nice part of the sport having to boil yourself down to a certain weight.
“Adding in the fact that I can now not rehydrate fully, I can’t eat and drink as much as I want after the weigh-in, adds another element of discomfort and hardship to what I’m going through.
“But this is what we sign up for, this is what we do as professional athletes.
“As elite-level fighters, you have to go through these trials, these tribulations, and I’ve been doing it my entire career so I have no doubt that the weight will be made.”