Chris Eubank Jr gives honest verdict on Conor Benn rematch after brutal fight
Chris Eubank Jr believes a rematch with Conor Benn is 'very likely' to happen this year. The 35-year-old beat his compatriot by unanimous decision at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in front of 67,000 spectators in their long-awaited April fight, and is confident the appetite is there for the pair to go toe-to-toe once more.
Details of a rematch have already been shared, with Saudi boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh hoping for a September fight if both men are fit and ready. And, despite speculation over Eubank opting for a different opponent, talk of another meeting isn't going away.
'The rematch is very likely to happen. The demand is there,' Eubank Jr tells Mirror Sport at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Monte-Carlo. 'The fight we put on last Saturday was something that won't be forgotten. People, they really fell in love with that performance - from both of us. So in all likelihood there will be a rematch at some point this year.'
The 35-year-old has taken on plenty of top opponents over the course of his career, and recognises plenty of options have been put on the table thanks to his victory over Benn. A match-up with Canelo Alvarez has been touted, but whatever happens next, Eubank believes he's in a stronger position for negotiations after learning from past mistakes.
'The business aspect of boxing is crucial, and I've got it wrong so many times throughout my life where people take advantage and to make the wrong deals, sign the wrong contract. But you live and you learn,' he says.
'Now I'm experienced enough to know the things I should be doing, the things I shouldn't be doing, what I'm worth as a fighter, what types of contracts are good to sign and what types of contracts you should stay away from. I have an amazing team around me of people that are watching my back at all times, and I'm in an amazing position now.
'After that performance [against Benn], all the doors are open. There's not a fight in boxing right now that couldn't be made. So that's a beautiful feeling to know you're in that position, you're in the driving seat, and these next 12 months are going to be incredible.'
Eubank Jr is speaking at the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Casino, where he is taking part in a private poker game organised by PokerStars. The €5,000 minimum buy-in is certainly a sum he can afford, after his seven-figure purse from the Benn fight, but the trip is about fun and relaxation as much as it is about making money.
'To a lot of people, they couldn't imagine playing with large amounts of money, risking losing that type of money, and that being something that's relaxing to them,' he says. 'But when you've been in these environments for so long it does become therapeutic, it does become fun, it does become relaxing.
'It becomes something you can do to take your mind off all the craziness that's going on in the other parts of your life. For me, poker is fun, it's truly enjoyable, it's a passion and I'm happy doing it, so it is a relaxing activity for me.'
PokerStars ambassador Felix Schneiders is another of the players in the game, and he's no stranger to pitting his wits against elite athletes. He knocked Sergio Aguero out of EPT Monte-Carlo last year, and enjoys that poker allows you to sit down on level footing with anyone else who has a few thousand euros in their pocket - which in this part of the world is a lot of people.
'I just met Chris for the first time, I shook hands with him. To be honest I didn't know who he was because I'm not into boxing, not into football, not into cars, not into anything like that, so I don't know if I have the right topics at hand!' he says. 'But I'm just going to sit down and have some fun with the lads, I'm just going in there without any expectations apart from having fun.
'Aguero, he sat down at my table [last year], I didn't know who he was, busted him. It was a very unfortunate spot for him - he had ace-jack, flopped a jack, I had queens and we got it in. 'After I busted him he shook my hand and I was feeling something is special about this guy, I don't know what. Then I sat down again and my neighbour said to me 'do you know who you just busted?'. I was like 'no I don't' and he went 'check him out on instagram'. He's got like 8 million followers - yeah okay, nice, good to know. That's the beauty of poker. That's what I like about the game.'
For Eubank's opponents in Monte-Carlo, the boxer himself is a prime example of sitting down at the felt and finding yourself metres away from the most famous person you've met. But the boxer isn't immune from getting excited about sitting down opposite superstars himself.
'I've played against all types of people all around the world,' he says. 'Very high stakes, very private games, very famous people, and it's amazing that you get to meet and spend time with all these characters. Because in a normal world you would never sit down and play with Bruno Mars, you wouldn't be around the guy. But poker brings all these different characters and personalities into one room, onto one table, and you get to spend time and speak and listen and learn.
'That is actually probably one of the most attractive things to me about poker. It's not even about the money, it's about the people and the experiences and the stories.' Some of them aren't just big names, though - they're talented poker players in their own right. And when asked to name his toughest opponents, he barely misses a beat before replying with a single name: Neymar.
'Most athletes that I've ever played with have been like myself, just action, gamble, but it's not like skill, it's just fun,' he says. 'I've seen Neymar play very skilfully and been very impressed with how he plays when he wants to play well. There are definitely times where he doesn't give a s*** about playing well and is just there to gamble, and those are the best games you can imagine, but he's a very, very good player.'
It's no coincidence that plenty of elite athletes make it along to European Poker Tour events - from Aguero to Rafa Nadal to Brazilian legend Ronaldo - and Eubank recognises the mental parallels between his sport and his pastime. 'Boxing and poker are extremely cerebral activities,' he says. 'You have to be extremely sharp, you have to have a very strong mentality to be able to perform at the highest levels of these two worlds.
'A lot of people wouldn't imagine this, but in my opinion boxing is 70 percent, minimum, mental. You've got to be able to deal with the pressure, the pain, the sacrifice, and with dedication. And if you can't deal with all of that it doesn't matter how fast and strong and fit you are, you're not going to win.
'You'll crumble under the pressures of boxing, and it's exactly the same with poker - you can crumble under the pressure. You can go all in with aces, somebody goes all in with kings, they hit a king, you lose your entire stack and 'oh my god i've just lost all this money, what am I going to do?'.
'Some guys, they fall apart, they chase, they tilt off the rest of their stack and it's a disaster. And some guys are able to keep composed, keep the game plan, understand that it's a part of the game and not let it distract you from playing the best poker you can play. They're very mental activities and the people with the strongest will and the most discipline, those are the guys who excel.'
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