Chris Eubank Jr on Tuesday smashed an egg into Conor Benn’s face during a stare-down between the rival boxers in a chaotic encounter to promote their April 26 bout.
The left-handed smack was a not-so-subtle reference to Benn’s failed doping test that derailed their planned fight in 2022. Benn at the time said that his consumption of eggs elevated his testosterone levels.
It has been more than 30 years since the boxers’ fathers — Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank — met twice in the ring in one of Britain’s great rivalries.
Photo: AP
After Tuesday’s news conference, the sons faced off and exchanged words before Chris Eubank Jr pulled an egg from his pocket and hit Conor Benn, who had to be restrained by several bulky security guards.
The fighters, who are square off in a middleweight bout at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, later took to social media.
“That’s the only shot you’ll land on me,” the 28-year-old Conor Benn wrote on X along with an expletive. “2 rounds you are finished.”
The 35-year-old Chris Eubank Jr wrote: “Apparently egg contamination was the reason for his two failed drugs tests. So I contaminated him with an egg.”
In another post featuring a photo of Conor Benn with egg on his face, he wrote: “Eggcellent.”
Eddie Hearn, who is Conor Benn’s promoter, called Chris Eubank Jr’s actions “unacceptable.”
“The world we live in today — it will go viral, people will think it’s quite amusing, but I’ll just tell you one thing — in the fight game, everything changes now about this fight,” he told Sky Sports. “You don’t want to be backstage right now. If you see Nigel Benn tonight, run. These people, they’re not normal people. They don’t go and have a cup of tea and then forget about it and everybody calms down.”
Fenerbahce on Thursday earned a rare 2-1 win in England, but were still knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Nottingham Forest in the playoffs. Forest entered the second leg with a healthy 3-0 lead from the opener in Istanbul — where Vitor Pereira made an impact in his first game in charge — and that proved enough to advance to the round-of-16 with a 4-2 aggregate score. The result was a boost for Forest, struggling at 17th place in the Premier League, in their return to Europe after three decades. They next face Real Betis Balompie or Kerem Akturkoglu gave Fenerbahce
Soccer officials yesterday offered “full support and assistance” to the Iranian team in Australia for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after the US and Israel launched massive attacks on their homeland. Iran’s 26-strong squad arrived on the Gold Coast days before the strikes on Saturday killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Washington and Tel Aviv seek to topple the Islamic republic. They are due to open their tournament today against South Korea. The AFC in a statement said it “continues to closely monitor the recent developments in the Middle East during this challenging period.” “The AFC’s foremost priority remains the welfare, safety and
ROAD RASH: Marc Marquez retired after a crash, marking the first time after 88 consecutive races stretching back to 2021 that a Ducati bike failed to make the podium Marco Bezzecchi yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening grand prix in Thailand from pole position as defending world champion Marc Marquez retired late with a buckled wheel. Aprilia’s Bezzecchi led from start to finish to top the podium in Buriram, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta second and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez third. Ducati’s Marquez is chasing a record-equaling eighth world title this season, but he exited the race in dramatic fashion while in fourth place with five laps to go. The Spaniard, who started from second on the grid, took a corner wide, with the jolt to his bike dislodging the rear tire, badly damaging his
EVERY DAY A VICTORY: Players on the women’s team faced pressure from society just getting out onto the field as they prepare for their first Women’s Asian Cup game today Bangladesh’s national soccer team face daunting odds at their first-ever Women’s Asian Cup, but have already scored a major victory by qualifying. In the South Asian nation of 170 million, social stigma, family expectations, poverty and religious hardliners have long relegated women and girls to sports sidelines. The first women’s soccer league matches took place in 2011 and the squad, known to fans as the Red and Green, have kept pressing forward despite deeply embedded prejudices. “Many more girls would have joined us if the community had been even slightly supportive,” captain Afeida Khandaker told AFP ahead of her side’s March 3
RSS