Boxing is beautiful.
At its best, the craft is an art: the refined technique on display, the captivating aesthetics primed to present the boxers at their best, the nailbiting fandom glued to the ring. We love the stakes, the rivalries, the story and knockouts; we respect refined skill and heart. But we also love the spectacle of the occasion: the build-up of conferences, the faceoffs, ringwalks, and that first ring of the bell. The psychological and spiritual warfare also adds weight to the gloves and unravels or intensifies the clarity of the mind.
This year, there has not been a grander spectacle in boxing than Conor Benn vs Chris Eubank Jr. This generational rivalry reached a boiling point last April at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium: after years of back-and-forths, enchanting pressers and insights from the world of boxing, the two men met in the ring. That fight was a once-in-a-lifetime bout charged by the legacy of their fathers—Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank Sr—their son’s own unique careers, and a stage teeming with animosity but ultimately respect.
The two fights of their fathers, the first in 1990 and the second in ‘93, left questions unanswered, leading to this generation continuing the familial rivalry. On that night in April, Conor Benn was equipped with his sponsor, Everlast—a black fit donned in homage to his father’s old gear, and ringwalked to the sounds of the angelic House Gospel Choir. The Fugees’ “Ready Or Not” loomed as he began his walk, and Conroy Smith’s “Dangerous” bellowed as he stared down the ring.
In this second fight with Eubank Jr, Conor Benn is once again paying homage to his dad, Nigel, with a collaboration of his sponsor, Everlast, and the high-fashion streetwear brand Palm Angels. Inspired by the palette of Nigel Benn’s gear in his second fight with Chris Eubank Sr, the style of the inflamed shorts, gloves and ringwalk jacket combines the boxing ingenuity of Everlast and Palm Angels’ vision to provide Conor with a new armour for this fight. His renowned gladiator-style shorts showcase a warrior. The blue flames allude to the contained rage, the coolness and composure needed to focus on the task at hand. The collaboration marks a modern step for Everlast by partnering with Palm Angels to craft performance-ready pieces with a focus on high fashion.
Post-training, the Benn team head back for some rest. At the back of his Rolls Royce, Conor takes my call. Seated with his dad—who gives a smile and wave after I reminisce on the tales my own pops told me about the Dark Destroyer—Conor speaks on his sponsorship, his new emotional maturity, and his intention behind Saturday’s fight.
COMPLEX: You wore Everlast gear in your first fight with Chris Eubank Jr—inspired by your father’s fight against Chris Eubank Sr—and now you and Everlast have teamed up with Palm Angels, forging another path for fashion in boxing. What excites you about this collab and the ring-gear?
Conor Benn: Well, it’s a collab that hasn’t been done before. It’s very rare that you have high-fashion brands branching into boxing. Everlast is a historic boxing brand—I’ve been with them for five years now—so it’s a privilege to be able to work with Everlast and do this collaboration with Palm Angels. It’s a blessing to be the face of it.
What can you say about that working relationship with Everlast?
You know what? It’s a hard one, because although it is a working relationship, I have an actual relationship with the people who work there—literally everyone at the brand. I don’t clock in and clock out; I have a relationship with every single one of them.
For us boxing fans, the aesthetic, the ringwalks—like your last with the House Gospel Choir—the atmosphere, everything building up to the fight is fascinating. But for you, as a fighter, how important is that all to inspire you in the ring?
A big part of fighting is ‘look good, feel good’—and I feel good! I’m going to surprise a lot of people with this fight kit. I’ve never done this before—I always wear black in the ring, so I thought I’d switch it up this time, especially with the Palm Angels collab. I’m really excited for people to see me reinvent myself. It feels like I’m reintroducing myself. The ring walk is going to blow people away as well. We’re going to do something a little bit special this time around.
I have followed your story for a long time, so I’ve seen most of your interviews and a majority of your fights. Throughout this build up, I’ve noticed that—and correct me if I’m wrong—you seem calmer, more at peace, and prepared for Saturday with a different perspective. What would you say has changed?
Maturity, emotional maturity. Obviously, you’ve followed everything: me coming out of what I’d just come out of, swinging and fighting, probably the hardest fight of my life—then to go into a physical fight… Me-myself as a man, my mental? I was not ready. A strong mind can carry a weak body, but a weak mind can’t carry a strong body. That’s the only way I can describe it. Yes, I was strong, but I was filled with rage, aggression and spite. It’s straining. For me, I feel like me and Chris are going to fight on Saturday. I’m going to beat him up, and that is it. No two ways about it! I’m going to go in there and put it on him, and beat him up. It just feels different. I know it sounds barbaric in itself, but this is it.
The first fight between you and Chris Eubank Jr was one of the best I have ever seen in terms of a pure boxing spectacle: the story, the heart, the skill, the generational weight that led to and through it. I asked the previous question because I felt there was a lot of animosity that fuelled the first one, but what would you say is the primary fuel for this second fight?
What’s fuelling this? Just wanting to win, man. Just to be a winner. Well, listen: this is my last fight at 160lbs, and I hope the public can enjoy it… I deviated from my plan, but having a win and getting redemption is currently it—performing the way I know I should be performing.
I want to see you go on and win some belts, go to America and smash some heads in, because the legacy is just going to keep building from here.
That’s the plan! This was a fantasy fight that, once it got spoken about, kind of had to happen. You can’t not deliver now—you have to do it. I owed it to the public for this fight to happen, but after this, it’s time for me to go on and just do my own thing.
You can watch the Benn vs Eubank Jr II fight on DAZN.