Bankruptcy, divorce and finding religion - the bell tolls for Eubank and Benn

As Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn prepare to recreate the epic Nineties fights of their fathers, Stephen Armstrong unravels the thread of tragedy that has run through both families and is still casting a shadow over the next generation

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It’s hard to explain to a new generation quite how important the two fights between Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn were – not just for boxing fans but for millions of average punters. They were the last great fights on TV, free to air for the 12 million people who watched their first encounter in 1990, and the 16 million who watched the rematch in 1993. Eubank’s manager and the current president of Matchroom, Barry Hearn, recalls “getting on the front page and the back page” of the tabloids regularly. “Everybody wanted to talk to us,” he explains. “Everybody wanted to know. And the main narrative was – these two guys just didn’t like each other.”

And now it is to their sons, Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn, to duke it out in front of a 60,000-strong crowd at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this evening. To continue their fathers’ ferocious rivalry, but hopefully, duck the dark lives that played out beyond the ring; epic tales that make Rocky look like a camp soap opera.

The violence, the anger, the money, the tragedy… dramas that keep writing new, painful chapters.

Back in 1990, Hearn’s opposite number in Benn’s camp was Ambrose Mendy. The managers were both great with publicity. Before Hearn and Mendy, the ringwalk – the boxer’s intimidating march to a blaring tune – was rare in British sport. Mendy and Benn were a double act, taking Benn from brawler to winning the WBO middleweight belt in April 1990. By which time he was desperate to fight Eubank, who’d been needling Benn since Eubank had easily defeated Anthony Logan in 1989 – a fighter Benn had struggled to beat.