Matchroom CEO Frank Smith remains confident Conor Benn vs Chris Eubank Jr will be made for early next year but believes there needs to be ‘significant progress’ in the coming days.
The sons of British boxing royalty were scheduled to fight in October last year but their grudge match was cancelled days before the opening bell when it emerged Benn had tested positive for banned substance clomifene.
The unbeaten welterweight has persistently denied any wrong doing with efforts to revive the fight ongoing with 3 February at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium a target date.
Reports last week suggested a deal was on the brink of being agreed between the two parties but hurdles remain in the way with the British Boxing Board of Control rejecting Benn’s recent application to fight on UK soil.
The legal dispute has complicated the issue with the priority for now on getting a deal with Benn and Eubank Jr over the line, with the next 48 to 72 hours pivotal.
‘We are disappointed with how things have gone about with the whole situation but we have to focus on making the fight first,’ Smith told Metro.co.uk.
‘It is not signed, otherwise it would be out there, our job is to focus on delivering that fight, that is what we will continue to do. From there, we work on all these other questions people have about sanctioning bodies, because it’s all hypothetical until that fight is made.
‘Our intention is to deliver that fight on 27 January or 3 February. 27 January, as the days tick on it makes it much more difficult. 3 February becomes the likely date if we can get that done. We are nine weeks out.
‘Over the next 48, 72 hours we need significant progress and aim towards announcing at the end of next week if we are going to get it done because with a fight of this magnitude, there is going to be a lot of work to put into it.
‘But first things first, focus on getting the fight done then we move onto those other things.’
Benn was formally suspended in April by UKAD [UK Anti-Doping] but in August, the independent National Anti-Doping Panel issued a ruling to lift his suspension. However, the British Boxing Board of Control and UK Anti-Doping lodged an appeal against that decision.
Benn does not currently hold a British boxing license. The 27-year-old welterweight made a lowkey return to action in Florida at the end of September, getting an unanimous decision win over Rodolfo Orozco.
Benn secured a licence with the Texas State Athletic Commission enabling him to fight in the US on that occasion.
Ensuring Benn fights in the UK again remains the priority for Matchroom.
‘That is our focus,’ Smith continued. ‘It has been a long time coming, we all saw how big the event was previously when it didn’t end up happening. But the feeling around that fight was that it is a mega event the like of which we haven’t seen in the UK in a long time. And we need to deliver these kind of events and make sure this happens in the UK.’
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