Chris Eubank Jr gives unlikely praise to Conor Benn ahead of mega fight

Chris Eubank Jr is preparing for the biggest night of his 34-fight professional career when he faces Conor Benn on Saturday night live on DAZN and DAZN PPV. 

The fight, which takes place at London's O2 Arena, will be the latest instalment of a long-running British boxing feud following two thrilling fights in the 1990s between their two fathers, Chris Eubank Snr and Nigel Benn. 

While there maybe no world titles on the line come the opening bell on Saturday, family pride is enough to get both Eubank Jr and Benn motivated, and when speaking to The DAZN Boxing Show, Eubank Jr did expect to cross paths with Benn at some point during his career. 

"As soon as he turned pro, as soon as he came onto the scene, it wasn’t like ‘I’ve got to fight him now’, but eventually we were going to cross paths," Eubank Jr said. 

"There’s too much history, too much interest. In the back of my mind, I always knew that we were going to fight, I just didn’t know when and to be honest I wasn’t expecting it to be this soon.

"But he’s got himself to a stage, to a position in his career where he has the fans, he has the hype, he can physically make the weight now."

The pair have exchanged in numerous verbal spars in the build-up to Saturday's fight, but Eubank Jr sees similarities between himself and Benn when it comes to career path and gave some unlikely praise to his rival. 

"He’s walking the same path that I walked and I know how hard that is," Eubank Jr began. 

"Very few people on the planet will ever have to do what me and him are doing, and that’s going into the hardest sport in the world and not only having to make it in that sport but having to make it behind a legend who you will always be compared to.

"That type of pressure it’s an unknown to everybody on the planet except a few people and it’s tough."