'Seconds out... round hate'

As the Eubank and Benn family grudge fest hits Tottenham this evening, Steve Bunce explains why genuine animosity between fighters captures the attention like nothing else

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It is rare in the boxing business for two fighters to hate each other after a fight. Rare, but it does happen, and it is nasty when it happens. This evening, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr will fight for family pride, millions of pounds, and to try to settle a personal score. It is doubtful that the end of the fight will be the end of the hostilities.

Their fathers still circle each other whenever they are close; if Michael Watson is present, the tension will ease. The dads met in 1990 and 1993. “I have no idea why we never had a third fight – I wanted to, I still hate him,” Benn said in 1997.

Benn and Eubank were opposites on both sides of the ropes, but that is not the reason that hate drove their fights, pushed the pair of them to bloody wrecks each time they faced each other. It was far more than just being opposites.

Eubank annoyed Benn long before they started having their clashes at conferences and ringside. Benn felt that Eubank had done nothing to justify the hype, and he was right; Eubank talked his way into the first fight and Benn always resented that. Eubank beating Benn only added to the malice and it was not just about losing; there was certainly no hate in 1990 towards Watson, who had knocked out Benn in 1989.