Chris Eubank Jr says he needed surgery after ‘headbutt’ by Conor Benn

Chris Eubank Jr says he underwent surgery after his gruelling points victory over bitter rival Conor Benn after being “headbutted”.

Eubank Jr spent two nights in hospital after his victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday evening, with his promoter Ben Shalom rejecting Benn’s claims the 35-year-old had suffered a broken jaw. Shalom said Eubank Jr had gone to hospital for “precautionary checks”, but the fighter has now revealed he had surgery on a damaged eye.

“When you get into a fight for 12 rounds, there are injuries that are sustained,” Eubank Jr told Sky Sports. “I got headbutted above my eye around the middle of the fight. It opened up and I had to go and have surgery on that to sew it up. Conor Benn and [promoter] Eddie Hearn ran away with the story of a broken jaw. There’s no broken jaw here. We are strong. Our bones are dense.

“When you’re in a fight like that, you have to go to hospital. You have to get tested and looked after, but I’m feeling good and grateful that the fight was so well received.”

Eubank Jr has yet to commit to his next career move, with a September rematch against Benn or a showdown with the Mexican superstar Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez potential options. “Watch this space,” Eubank Jr said over a possible Benn rematch. “Boxing is a very beautiful industry where anything can happen. The possibilities are endless. If the rematch is meant to be it will be. If not, there’s plenty of amazing fights to be had and great things for me to achieve in this sport.”

On the possibility of meeting Álvarez, who defends his world super-middleweight titles against William Scull on Saturday, Eubank Jr said: “That is another stadium filler, absolutely. Wembley, Tottenham, any one of the large football stadiums in the UK will be filled for a fight like that. He is an opponent I’ve been looking at for many years now. The fans would love to see that and we will be doing whatever we can to secure that fight in the future.”

Eubank Jr was reunited with his father, Chris Eubank Sr, before his victory over Benn after the pair had supposedly been estranged for years. Eubank Sr had criticised the matchup with Benn – the son of his bitter 1990s rival Nigel Benn – but shocked fans by emerging from his son’s car before the fight.

“A moment of a lifetime,” Eubank Sr said on his YouTube channel. “It looks like it has been orchestrated by a director. For me to push the door open and put one foot down and there is the world’s media. I chuckled.”

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