British boxing fans have been teased for months about the prospect of a grudge match between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn – however another man has just thrown his hat into the ring to take on the former.
Though reports emerged last night that a deal for the two family rivals to lock horns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in February was close to being finalised, Benn is still without a BBOC license and the case over his two failed VADA tests last year remains unsolved.
And should the fight with Benn not materialise, recently crowned British champion Nathan Heaney told Talksport Boxing that he’d relish the opportunity to go toe to toe with Eubank.
“I told my students five years ago that I can beat Chris Eubank Jr – and they said I was absolutely nuts!”
“But fighting me would benefit him as well. If he’s fighting at the Bet365 Stadium in front of 35,000 fans, he’s going to be absolutely laughing isn’t he, because he’ll think it’s going to be easy.”
“He’s the sort of showtime name that’d I’d love to fight. But I also want to fight for a world title – and Eubank doesn’t have one.”
Few gave Heaney a prayer when he took on Denzel Bentley for the Lord Lonsdale belt earlier this month, however he produced the performance of his life to score a majority decision victory against the odds.
‘The Hitman’ has a huge cult following in his native Stoke and brought around 3,000 fans to the Manchester Arena that night, and has made no secret of the fact he wants a stadium fight in his hometown next.
Eubank was also written off by many before his last outing, however he looked back to his best when he stopped Liam Smith in September, reversing the result of their first meeting earlier in the year.
Chris Eubank Jr put on a 𝘾𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙄𝘾 against Liam Smith in the rematch 😳🔥#SmithEubank2 pic.twitter.com/5X56CZoj4E
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) September 3, 2023
It must be said that a clash between Heaney and Eubank seems wishful thinking at this stage. However, as the Stokie’s win over Bentley proved, never say never in the sport of boxing.
