In north London on Saturday night, people turned up for a soap opera and, of all things, a fight broke out. Chris Eubank Jr’s unanimous-decision victory over Conor Benn gradually developed into a contest so action packed that it was tempting to completely overlook the tawdry buildup or the fact that it was only their famous surnames that had guaranteed both boxers career-high paydays.
During a scrappy start, you could be forgiven for thinking the fight had perhaps peaked two hours and five minutes before the first bell. That was the moment when Eubank Jr arrived at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a smirk and – perhaps more notably – his supposedly estranged father by his side in a suitably ostentatious sheepskin jacket, looking like a 1980s football commentator who had won the pools.
