Chris Eubank Jr. has reportedly been fined £100,000 [$129,500] for hitting Conor Benn with an egg during their entertaining press conference on February 25th, in Manchester, England.
PPV SURGE
That fine is obviously a drop in the pocket to the dough that Eubank Jr. will make for the fight with Benn (23-0, 14 KOs). It’s not going to hurt him in the pocketbook too bad because the incident will pump up the PPV buys, earning him more money than he would have made before. You hate to say it, but this worked out well for Eubank Jr. and Benn. It’s too bad that he did this in the first press conference rather than the last one or the weigh-in.
During their face-off, Eubank Jr. slyly pulled a raw egg still in its shell out of his pocket and clapped Benn, 28, with it, sending the yolk flying and covering Conor’s face. This livened up the press conference and created a lot of press for their April 26th middleweight fight at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Tottenham, England.
The attention that this incident brought to the Eubank Jr-Benn event is incalculable, as there’s a lot more interest now than there ever was before. You got to thank Chris Jr. for that. Before that, fans just saw this as a British scrap between two fighters of limited talent going nowhere in the sport. Now, fans want to see them fight, that’s a positive for the promotion.
Eubank Jr’s Next Move
It will be interesting to see if Eubank Jr. (34-3, 25 KOs) can keep the momentum going with the other press conferences and media events because he’s doing this on his own. He is the show. Chris Jr. was talking circles around Benn, making him look mentally overmatched during the event.
Benn is kind of a third wheel, an unnecessary person in the promotion because he can’t engage in an entertaining discussion. Their Manchester press conference involved Eubank Jr. and promoter Eddie Hearn going back and forth because Benn couldn’t continue anything. He was just a body in the chair. It will come down to Eubank Jr. and Eddie Hearn to keep the interest up for the April 26th fight. To keep the interest up, they just muzzle Benn, and focus on the Eubank Jr-Hearn rivalry.
