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Eubank Jr fined £100,000 for hitting boxing rival Benn in face with an egg / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File
NYSE - LSE
Eubank Jr fined £100,000 for hitting boxing rival Benn in face with an egg
Chris Eubank Jr has been fined £100,000 ($129,000) after hitting fellow British boxer Conor Benn in the face with an egg during a heated exchange in the build-up to next month's grudge match.
Eubank had already made a reference at last month's Manchester press conference to two drugs tests Benn failed in 2022, which led to a two-year battle with anti-doping authorities.
The World Boxing Council cleared Benn in 2023 of a doping offence after it ruled a "highly elevated consumption of eggs" constituted a "reasonable explanation" for his positive finding.
As the fighters faced off on stage in Manchester in February, Eubank pulled an egg from his pocket and smashed it against Benn's face, sparking a brawl as promoter Eddie Hearn and Benn's father Nigel tried to get at Eubank and his team.
The British Boxing Board of Control said in a statement: "Following a hearing before the stewards of the British Boxing Board of Control, Chris Eubank Jnr was found to be in breach of regulation 25 (misconduct) for his conduct at the press conference in Manchester for the Chris Eubank Jnr v Conor Benn contest on 26th April, 2025.
"As such, the stewards of the board fined Chris Eubank Jnr the sum of £100,000."
Eubank and Benn will fight at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 26, having originally been due to face off in October 2022 before Benn's failed tests.
Benn originally tested positive for the female fertility drug clomifene.
The 28-year-old, who has a 23-0 record, was cleared to fight in Britain in November last year after the UK Anti-Doping Agency announced it would not appeal against a decision from the National Anti-Doping Panel to lift his ban, with the British Boxing Board of Control also declining to appeal.
Eubank, 35, who has a 34-3 record, defended his actions two days later at a second media event.
He said: "Did I cross the line? During this whole process I think many lines have been crossed.
"So me throwing an egg at somebody who absurdly claims that was the reason why he failed two drugs tests, I think that's light, I think he deserved the embarrassment of what happened. If I had an opportunity to do it again then I would.
"Unfortunately I come unarmed today, I've been searched multiple times and I couldn't sneak any in."
The middleweight bout is a battle of second-generation contenders, reviving the Benn v Eubank feud in which the rivals' fathers -- Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr -- battled it out in two ferocious contests in the early 1990s.
Q.Taylor--SFF
