British boxer Chris Eubank Jr will be fined £375,500 after missing the weight by just 0.05lb (0.8 ounces) for Saturday’s fight with Conor Benn.
At Friday’s official weigh-in behind closed doors in London, Eubank Jr came in above the 11st 6lb limit and also just failed to meet the weight at his second attempt. Benn tipped the scales at 11st 2lb. The fight, scheduled for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, is still due to take place despite the news.
Both boxers have agreed a rehydration clause that bars them from gaining more than 10lb between this weigh-in and a further check on Saturday morning. The pair will also come face-to-face at a ceremonial weigh-in later on Friday.
Eubank, with a 34-3 record and 25 knockouts, has previously fought at super-middleweight while Benn, unbeaten in 23 fights with 14 knockouts, has been mostly a welterweight, two classes down. Eubank is the IBO middleweight champion and has already been fined £100,000 by the British Boxing Board of Control for slapping Benn with an egg at a press conference in February.
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The pair appeared together at a press conference on Thursday, with Eubank speaking of the pain of his brother Sebastian’s death and his difficult relationship with his father. “These things are what pain is to me,” he said.
“The weight cut, the rehydration clause, these are all things that are not an issue, that are not important.” Eubank Sr has called the fight a circus and his son a “disgrace” for smashing the egg in Benn’s face.
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