Tis a season of longing and loathing for Conor Benn. This deep into the fight build-up, certain festivities don’t bear thinking about.
‘Loads of food is what Christmas consists of for me,’ Benn says. ‘Salted caramel mince pies… mmm, I can’t be thinking about this now. I’m not even going to entertain that thought.’
Unfortunately, other wintry traditions cannot be shut from his mind. Other harsher habits are etched on to the boxer’s soul.
For Conor Benn, the festive season hasn't always represented a time of joy and celebration
Benn has opened up to Sportsmail about life as a youngster growing up at a religious school
‘At New Year’s I’m on my hands and knees in the church — repenting, saying we need to be forgiven for our sins or we’re going to hell,’ Benn recalls. ‘I’m like 12, 13 years old, they thought I had demons in me.’
This weekend, darkness will again envelop this welterweight destroyer when he faces Chris Algieri in Liverpool. Now 25, Benn is still honing his craft — 19 wins have not come without the odd scrape and bruise. So far, however, his boxing education has left fewer scars than his years in the classroom.
As a teenager in Mallorca, growing up outside the shadow of his father Nigel, Conor was sent to a strict religious school made up of only 30 children but no little torment.
‘It was horrible — like a cult,’ he says. ‘I had things programmed into me which no kid should have. Or no kid should have to go through, but obviously it was all I knew.’
Benn was no stranger to being shut off. He grew up in a gated mansion. All the family lacked at home? Relics of one of British boxing’s most pulsating careers. Nigel left London to ‘outrun’ a life of hedonism that drove him to the brink of suicide. He was born again, a Christian and member of an evangelical church community that frowned on his ring exploits — and punished his son.
‘Schools like that — which I don’t believe are very common — can’t do anything good for young kids,’ Benn says. ‘I’ve had to do a lot of work with myself just to see things in a different light.’
Therapy and counselling helped repair the pain of that half-decade. ‘It probably took about two years of un-programming, rewinding to realise this is not how it’s supposed to be,’ Benn says.
‘It definitely had an impact on me. Even into my relationship, the way I was, the way I disliked my parents — me and dad had a rocky relationship until I was 18.’
At present, Benn is gearing up to fight against Chris Algieri in Liverpool this weekend
Benn is the son of boxing legend Nigel Benn but their relationship hasn't always been smooth
Pupils were warned about the impending arrival of an antichrist. They prepared for the end of the world. He believed God peered down ‘with a magnifying glass and a whip’.
‘I’d get detention all the time. I got suspended for writing a love note to a girl,’ he remembers.
‘That may have been why they thought I had demons. I never even kissed her, mate. I threw a love note over to her desk.’
A normal day began with hands on hearts as students pledged allegiance to the school and their country. As for lessons?
‘You’d sit down and put your flag up and the teacher would come to you if you needed any assistance,’ Benn recalls. ‘It’s like home-schooling. But the school had about 30 kids. I’m still working on forgiving the teachers.’
So what convinced them he needed rescuing? ‘I was an energetic kid. I didn’t do my school work, and that was it. For them to go, “We think your son needs deliverance…” what
