sport news Eubank Jr vs Benn: Destroyer rejected Eddie Hearn's welterweight plan and urged ... trends now

From the moment whispers of a potential Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr matchup first surfaced, promoter Eddie Hearn faced familiar accusations of greed; of cashing out on his young welterweight prospect and threatening his reputation, career and health in the process.

Because Eubank Jr vs Benn, a nostalgic fantasy fight which pits the offspring of British boxing's most famous enemies against one another, would simply never be happening if not for the rivalry synonymous with their family names, and both sons have been forced out of their comfort zone at a catchweight to make it happen.

Eubank, a 160-pounder by the skin of his teeth these days, must cut down to 157lbs for this money-spinning event on October 8, a weight he has not made since his teenage years. Chris Sr opened up on the grave concerns he has with that weight cut in a sensational interview with Sportsmail earlier this month, where he revealed his wishful aim to curtail the fight out of fear for his son's safety.

But for Benn, the health risks involved are surely even greater. The 25-year-old was enjoying a slow and steady ascent towards world level at 147lbs before being steered dangerously off track and towards the glistening pound notes dangling above a nonsensical mega-bout with Eubank - who was campaigning at 168lbs only three years ago.

Yet while Hearn and others pulling the financial strings were seen as the driving force behind an apparent money-motivated mismatch, Benn's manager Charlie Sims has provided a different version of events. Instead, it was his fighter who lit the flame.

Sims, the former reality star-turned boxing manager son of Benn's head coach Tony, casts his mind back to the birth of Eubank vs Benn 3. 'We were sitting in a meeting with Eddie Hearn at Matchroom HQ; there was me, Tony, Conor Benn and his lawyer,' he tells Sportsmail. 'We were looking at dates and October 8 was always going to be Conor's date whether it was against Chris or somebody else. We were looking for an opponent and just having that usual conversation of "who can we fight?"

'But Matchroom were suggesting fighters that Conor wasn't particularly happy with or didn't want to fight. They were fighters of the same calibre as Chris van Heerden, Chris Algieri, Samuel Vargas, and Conor was like, "do you know what guys, I appreciate you putting the date aside for me and trying to put this together, but this isn't what I want to do."

'He did Sebastian Formella, Vargas, Algieri, Van Heerden, four of those guys, and they were step-ups. But he kind of just said, "I'm ready now and I want to fight a live opponent."'

Talk subsequently turned to more complex welterweight tests, and Keith Thurman's name initially arose as one of the likelier candidates. Having only competed three times in the last five-and-a-half years, and once in the last three, the former unified world champion seemingly ticked all the relevant boxes: big name, world level, beatable.

At one stage Thurman looked the most realistic option for Benn in his pursuit of an advanced challenge, only for talks with the American to hit a snag.

'He [Thurman] was the one that was materialising a little bit more,' Sims recalls. 'But the fight wasn't really making progress in the way I would've liked it to. It was a bit like, "the money's not enough, I don't know if I want to come to the UK, I want to see what else is going on in the US".

'It wasn't really there, so that was when we had to make the decision to look for another opportunity.'

It was at this point when the wildcard of all wildcards was thrown into the mix.

'The funny thing is,' Sims laughs, 'the Chris Eubank fight always gets floated in these meetings as a kind of insider joke. We say "what about the Eubank fight?" And then everybody just laughs.

'But we kind of knew deep down that maybe it could happen. And when we actually said it this time, Eddie was like "yeah, I think we might actually be able to do this."'

Eubank's non-attachment to a television broadcaster long term, following two recent outings on Sky Sports, and Hearn's solid relationship with his promoters Kalle and Nisse Sauerland provided a green light for the long-running office joke to become reality.

It was Team Benn who put the wheels in motion by initiating contact with Eubank's representatives, proposing a date of destiny against their young charge in London on October 8, and when that offer was accepted early negotiations breezed through at a surprising pace.

Sims continues: 'The way these talks tend to go is there's normally a few non-negotiables; like the weight, the purse and maybe location depending on who it is. So believe it or not, we actually made really quick ground on the first part of the negotiation.

'Eubank's team suggested the weight and we were like "ok, we've looked into it and we've got science behind this that tells us Conor can make this weight quite easily, so we don't think that'll be a problem. We actually think it's more of a problem for Chris, because he's struggled to make 160 a few times, so we don't understand how he's gonna get below 160 if he's struggling at it."'