"That exhilarating first fight in 1990 ushered in a heady new era for British boxing. Soon, even people who cared nothing about boxing could not look away from the TV in roaring pubs when Benn, Eubank, Michael Watson, and later Lennox Lewis and Naseem Hamed, lit up the screen. Briefly, those terrestrial TV viewers saw what I saw. They felt what I felt."
"Now, in a different century, Benn and Eubank's sons, Conor and Chris Jr, operate at a lower level, plying their trade in grim times as boxing is shunted even further to the margins. In these days of Saudi Arabian control and Dazn pay-per-views, of doping allegations and poor matchmaking, boxing seems bereft. On Saturday night Benn and Eubank Jr meet in a rematch of their wild scrap in April, after two positive drug tests."
A 1990 fight between Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn transformed a life and launched sustained engagement with the sport, producing multiple books. The 1990s brought British boxing into mainstream cultural prominence through figures like Michael Watson, Lennox Lewis, and Naseem Hamed. Fighters were portrayed as extraordinary individuals confronting fears in elemental ways. Contemporary boxing faces commercialization, Saudi influence, Dazn pay-per-views, doping allegations, poor matchmaking, and manufactured rivalries. The rivalry between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr has been shadowed by controversy, including positive drug tests and contractual rehydration clauses that delayed their rematch.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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