Rehydration Clause Delays Chris Eubank Jr. VS Conor Benn
The October 8th potential fight between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn at the O2 Arena in London is being held up by the disagreement on the rehydration clause.
FightersTalkTV.com – Eubank Jr is a middleweight (160 lbs) while Benn fights at welterweight (147 lbs) but they have agreed to a 156 lbs catchweight fight. However, they are now locked into a dispute over how much weight they can put on between the weigh-in on Friday and the day of the fight.
The Daily Star reports that the pair haven’t agreed on the second-day weigh-in limit. The clause would be in place to stop Eubank Jr having a big size advantage after rehydrating. Benn’s team will want as low a weight as possible, while Eubank Jr’s camp would probably request no rehydration clause at all.
Chris Eubank Sr’s son Chris Eubank Jr usually competes at middleweight (160lbs).
For Eubank Jr, a fighter that competed at super middleweight from 2017 to 2019, it makes sense for the rehydration limit to be as close as possible to 170 lbs to prevent him from being weakened. It’s already hard enough on the 32-year-old Eubank Jr that he must melt down to 156 lbs to accommodate Benn with a catchweight handicap.
Eubank (32-2, 23 KOs) has never fought that low before during his 11-year professional career, so it will not be easy for him. His career has stalled since his loss to George Groves in 2018.
Nigel Benn’s son Conor Benn usually competes at welterweight (147lbs).
For his part, the welterweight Benn (21-0, 14 KOs) hasn’t fought above 147 during his short six-year pro career. Also, Benn has never competed against a top 15 contender and has been matched against older, weaker fighters without much pop in their punches.
If the Eubank Jr-Benn fight can’t get made, Matchroom Boxing may look to bag former WBA/WBC welterweight champion Keith ‘One Time’ Thurman as the opponent for Benn. Beating old ‘One Time’ Thurman would be a massive scalp for Benn to add to his collection and would put him in the pole position to capture one of the four 147-lb titles once they’re vacated by the winner of the undisputed welterweight match between champions Errol Spence Jr. and Terence Crawford.
Eubank Jr’s options for his next fight would be less interesting than Benn’s, as his promoters will likely match him against former WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith.
But, if it gets made, the Eubank Jr vs. Benn fight will be streamed on DAZN pay-per-view. Both fighters will make a lot of money from the clash, which is ideal for both.
What Is Rehydration Clause
A rehydration clause is a contractual pact which binds both fighters to a second weigh-in on the day of the fight, 24 hours after the standard weigh-in on the day before. In recent years, these have become more common with the IBF even making them mandatory for their world title bouts.
Typically a fighter would weigh in on Friday, make the agreed limit and then rehydrate and fuel up to be significantly bigger by the time they step into the ring. With a rehydration clause, this would restrict how much weight both men can put on in that time.
In the case of Eubank Jr vs Benn, such a clause would be put in place to prevent the bigger man (Eubank Jr) from having such a big size advantage after rehydrating. For IBF world title fights, the rehydration clause is 10lbs above the standard limit.
However, Eubank Jr and Benn will of course not be meeting for an IBF world title and so they can attempt to negotiate any rehydration clause they wish. At present, it’s claimed they cannot find an accord, though parties involved remain confident that they will finalize the deal and make the fight as talks continue.
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