Conor Benn has invested heavily in sparring for his upcoming bout with Chris Eubank Jnr this Saturday at London\u2019s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.<\/p>\n
Benn, who has spent the majority of his career competing at welterweight, although his last two contests have come at 154lbs, will step up to face Eubank Jnr at middleweight. Benn brought in some top sparring to help him prepare for the big jump in size. His three notable sparring partners were British middleweight champion Denzel Bentley, Bruno Sarace, and super middleweight beltholder William Scull \u2013 who Benn\u2019s father Nigel has recently claimed withdrew after seven rounds with his son.<\/p>\n
Nigel Benn also spoke on Benn\u2019s spars with Bentley this week: \u201c[Bentley] had his hands full with Conor,\u201d he said. \u201cConor was just going through it, 10 rounds, done it easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bentley spoke to BoxingScene back in March and had a different view on the spars he shared with Benn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he done his thing, I’m saying he held his own,\u201d Bentley said on the spars. \u201cI mean, they were competitive spars, depending on certain spots in the ring where I was, and things that I’d done or mistakes that I made and stuff like that. But it was a very competitive spars. I mean, he’s more than strong enough. He might not be tall enough or big enough or whatever, but he’s definitely strong enough to hold his own at middleweight and against Eubank, in my opinion. Because looking at Eubank more recently, he hasn’t been the most physical of fighters.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe likes to try and box and keep it clean. He’s not the Eubank that we know coming through the gates or even in losses, he still looked dangerous and stuff like that. Do you know what I mean? \u201cLike when he fought guys like George Groves or when he fought Billy Joe [Saunders] or when he knocked out Yildirim, we haven’t seen that version of Eubank for a long time. But Conor Benn is probably more of that old Eubank than Eubank is now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s training really hard out of Mallorca,\u201d he continued. \u201cJust seeing it firsthand, I can only judge by what I’ve seen. He’s training really hard, putting a lot of effort into his training in the spars. He’s explosive. He’s strong physically. And although he may not look like the smartest in the ring, he’s a good listener. So when Tony [Sims] is giving him instructions on things, he knows how to follow it and do it. And obviously, Tony is a good coach and he’ll be making a good game plan for him and I think he’ll follow it to a T.\u201d<\/p>\n
The main question mark around Benn\u2019s chances against Eubank Jnr is how will he cope with such a bigger, more physical opponent. Bentley insists that the 147lb version of Benn \u2013 who was originally slated to face Eubank Jnr in 2022 until the bout was scrapped after Benn failed two drugs tests \u2013 is gone, and a much bigger man has taken his place.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, firstly, the whole welterweight thing, I don’t think he can make it, welterweight, again,\u201d said Bentley. \u201cThe work he’s been putting in, especially with his S&C, and the muscle he’s been building. I think the two years that he had off probably done him a whole load of good for this fight. He was probably less prepared and lighter, and not as physical two and a half years ago, when he was actually a welterweight, compared to now where he hasn’t made a welterweight for two years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s been building muscle, he’s been training, he’s kept in the gym, but he hasn’t had to cut any weight. So, that weight to welterweight, I think, would hurt him if he cuts it again. He might be able to do it, but in my opinion, I think he’s strong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bentley has shared the ring with some of the hardest hitting middleweights around, including unified champion Janibek Alimkhanuly \u2013 whom Bentey lost a decision in a competitive bout in 2022. Bentley was asked how Benn\u2019s power compared to other 160lb fighters he has faced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s a good question,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was different. I mean, a lot of middleweights I fought have had heavier hands, obviously, just more like a front. Whereas his were more explosive and fast, the impact is there. But with certain other middleweights, it probably wouldn’t even have had to have been that explosive and fast for me to feel it. If that makes sense? Just because it’s just bigger frames, bigger hands, bigger wrists. It’s just more of like a front.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know what I mean? But he puts a lot into his\u2026 like every shot he throws, he wants to knock you out with. So, you’re going to feel something. You’re going to feel a little bit of, \u2018Oh, okay, cool. Don’t get caught with that again.\u2019 Because, you know what I’m saying? It can back you up. It can slow you down.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just don’t want to get hit with silly shots,\u201d he continued. \u201cOh, he’s got good enough power. And it’s a good question, man. It’s a good question because I’m trying to think of how I felt when I was in there taking his power. And of course, when he did land the shots, I did feel them. It wasn’t like a buzz or, \u2018Damn, I’m out of my feet,\u2019 but they were heavy enough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conor Benn has invested heavily in sparring for his upcoming bout with Chris Eubank Jnr this Saturday at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,26953,21610,26952,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-50025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-chris-eubank-jnr","10":"tag-conor-benn","11":"tag-denzel-bentley","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114399970809425674","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}