Eubank outpoints Benn in action-packed grudge fight

It is difficult to know where to begin, but at the end, Chris Eubank Jr sank to his knees as his father stood proudly by his side, while Conor Benn embraced his own father and closed his eyes, perhaps wishing to drift into a dreamworld away from the very real nightmare around him.

- ALEX PATTLE

Also around him were 67,000 souls, 67,000 witnesses to his demise after so many threats, so much snarling, so much aggression – an aggression which simply could not deliver the decisive blow he had craved for years. Make no mistake, this was not an emphatic demise; in fact, the 28-year-old had fought valiantly in a boxing match that resembled a theatrical melodrama more than a sporting contest. Instead, his downfall played out over 12 rounds, with victory so often appearing within his twitchy grasp.

As violent as Benn was in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and as desperately as he pursued glory, Eubank Jr was just that bit better. At times, the 35-year-old looked gone – just as he had looked mentally absent on the scales on Friday, after a gruelling weight-cut – yet he never truly went away. He seemed spurred on by something inexplicable, something intangible, yet if one were to supply a romantic answer, they might fall upon the presence of his father.

At the eleventh hour, in a plot twist worthy of this eccentric idol, Eubank Sr arrived at the venue with his son, despite publicly criticising this match-up and the weight disparity between Jr and Benn as recently as this week, and despite his alleged estrangement from his offspring.

Thirty-two years after Nigel and Sr rounded out their own bitter rivalry, fighting to a draw three years after Sr beat his fellow Briton, the enemies-turned-friends shared a ring again. This time, each stood behind his son, supporting.