Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn: Live Winners and Losers, Results

Sometimes the bad blood is contrived. Other times, it's legit.

And this time, it's bitter enough to flow through multiple generations.

Fighting sons Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn took up an in-ring rivalry established by their fathers in the 1990s and ratcheted it to a modern level of enmity for a Saturday showdown that drew more than 60,000 fans to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London

"The biggest fight in British boxing right now, aside from AJ-Fury, is Benn-Eubank," promoter Eddie Hearn told Bleacher Report. "The similarities between the sons, not just in the ring, but the mannerisms and whole build up, it’s incredible."

The middleweight main event topped a five-bout main card that began after a prelim show got under way at noon ET. The B/R combat team was in place to take it all in and deliver a real-time list of the event's definitive winners and losers.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

Matchroom Boxing boss Hearn is the 45-year-old son of the promoter who put on the two fights between fathers Chris Eubank Sr. and Nigel Benn in 1990 and 1993.

He was 11 when Eubank Sr. won the first by ninth-round TKO and was in the building at age 14 when they fought to a draw in a rematch at Old Trafford stadium.

So to suggest he's old-school (or at least older school) in his approach is no stretch.

But he's also not blind to the publicity-generating ways of the newer school, which means when Eubank Jr. cracked an egg on the younger Benn's cheek at their media get-together in February, he had to take a breath and survey the promotional impact.

"We now live in a world that is so desensitized that that's not even a big deal," he said. "When you calm down you, you look at the front page of the national newspaper and it's there. I'd rather other ways to get that kind of publicity, but sometimes something shocking like that is what gets it."

Like father, like son.

Following in the footsteps of a two-division champion, Eubank Jr. maintained the family’s superiority over their most bitter rivals with a decision win over second-generation nemesis Conor Benn that was everything the promotion promised it’d be.

“Whatever happens next we’ve had an absolute humdinger,” blow-by-blow man Adam Smith said. “Whatever the controversy surrounding this fight, these two knuckled down and gave the fans an absolute classic. It wasn’t a world-title fight, but it was two really good fighters and it blended beautifully. They shared their souls in there.”

Indeed, each round turned into a back-and-forth battle, with Eubank Jr. thriving with sharp jabs and shots from distance while the smaller, faster Benn tried to get in close with hard blows. There wasn’t much to separate them until the final stages, when Eubank seemed to hurt his tired opponent and locked up 116-112 verdicts on all three scorecards.

B/R’s W/L card read the same way after giving Eubank Jr. three of the last four rounds.

“I knew I was capable of that. I needed the talent to bring it out of me,” he said. “I didn’t expect that he could do that. The fact that our fathers did this so many years ago, it brings out a different soul and a different spirit and that’s what we did here tonight.”

It was a first career loss after 23 straight wins for Benn, who climbed to 160 pounds after having only fought beyond 150.5 one time. He claimed inactivity might have been a bigger factor than the weight, though, citing only two fights in three years and none since February 2024.

“I felt like it was a close fight. I enjoyed it,” he said. “The fighting talk is fighting talk, but Chris is a good fighter. I always knew that.”

Anthony Yarde and Lyndon Arthur have lost three world title fights between them.

So urgency to stay on the highest level at 175 pounds was a primary motivation when they got together to cap their personal rivalry in Saturday’s co-main.

Arthur won a close decision when they met in 2020 in London and Yarde scored a fourth-round finish in their return bout about 10 miles northeast a year later.

But unlike a main event where familiarity bred visceral contempt, the third-time combatants were only occasionally compelling across a consistently active but largely tedious 12 rounds.

Yarde, KO’d by Sergey Kovalev (2019) and Artur Beterbiev (2023) in his title shots, was outworked from distance through the fight’s first half, but was the busier man down the stretch both in center ring and along the ropes.

He swept the official scorecards with 115-113, 116-112 and 116-112 margins. B/R’s W/L card had it 7-5 in rounds and 115-113 on points for Yarde, too, after giving Arthur four of the first six rounds.

It was a fourth straight win since the Beterbiev loss for Yarde, who arrived as the WBA’s fourth-ranked contender. The seventh-ranked Arthur, who was beaten by Dmitry Bivol in his title try 16 months ago, has lost three of eight since starting his career with 19 straight wins.

It was an English show. Liam Smith is an English fan favorite.

But that was about all the 36-year-old former champion had going for him.

The Liverpool native was on the wrong end of a disastrously ill-advised style matchup with unbeaten Irish middleweight Aaron McKenna, who was faster, busier and more effective for nearly every moment of every round on the way to a wide decision win across 36 minutes.

A WBO belt-holder at 154 pounds in 2015-16 before a loss to Canelo Alvarez, Smith had won 10 of 13 subsequent fights but was inactive for 19 months after a 2023 loss to Eubank Jr.

He’d hoped an impressive performance against McKenna, 25, would prompt calls for a trilogy against Eubank Jr, whom he’d beaten by TKO in their first fight, but it seems the end of the line is as much a possibility given the competitive chasm he faced on Saturday.

“This is the display of his life so far,” Adam Smith said of McKenna, who was 9 when Smith turned pro in 2008, “in just his 20th fight. A star has been born.”

Meanwhile, Darren Barker’s assessment of Smith was far less congratulatory.

“You just get the impression that the body’s not doing what the mind wants it to,” he said. “It’s very hard to roll back the years.”

Saturday’s event was a collaboration between the promoters and SNK Games, the Japanese-based creator of the Fatal Fury series, and the developer’s signature title was splashed across the canvas in the center of the ring.

So all was well and good in terms of product placement.

Right up until the action started, that is.

Combatants in each of the first two fights noticeably and repeatedly slipped on the massive logo, which became moist and slick as evening fell in the outdoor venue.

It got to the point in the show’s second fight–between British cruiserweights Viddal Riley and Cheavon Clarke–that the broadcast team began wondering aloud whether the surface could be replaced by the time the main event began hours later.

The fight was briefly delayed before the ninth round so the logo could be wiped down with a towel, and the obvious issue prompted visible concern at ringside from both Hearn and Saudi fight architect Turki Al-Sheikh.

“Both fighters are finding it really difficult to get a grip on the canvas,” Adam Smith said, “and maybe that’s why the power punches aren’t having the effect. This is a real problem.”

Fiery trash talk is one thing. World-class skill is another.

It was clearly the latter that mattered more in the cruiserweight opener between British favorite Chris Billam-Smith and American interloper Brandon Glanton.

Glanton, a 33-year-old who played football at Georgia’s Albany State University, spiced up the pre-fight week with his mouth, repeatedly calling his foe a bi*ch and claiming he was coming to inflict brain damage.

"Your son has a b*tch as a father," Glanton told Billam-Smith at Thursday's media finale. "I don't care about these cameras and these lights. I'm going to f*ck you up. That's why I'm here."

But once the bell rang–and particularly after the brawny Glanton’s initial charge was blunted–it was Billam-Smith’s more varied skill set that proved decisive in a unanimous decision win.

The cards went 116-113, 116-112 and 116-112 in favor of Billam-Smith, who won and defended the WBO’s title twice across 18 months in 2023 and 2024. 

B/R’s W/L card had it slightly wider, giving the winner nine of 12 rounds for a 117-111 total.

Chris Eubank Jr. def. Conor Benn by unanimous decision (116-112, 116-112, 116-112)

Anthony Yarde def. Lyndon Arthur by unanimous decision (115-113, 116-112, 116-112)

Aaron McKenna def. Liam Smith by unanimous decision (119-108, 117-109, 118-108)

Viddal Riley def. Cheavan Clarke by unanimous decision (116-112, 117-111, 115-113)

Chris Billiam-Smith def. Brandon Glanton by unanimous decision (116-113, 116-112, 116-112)