I'm trying to work out how bad Eubank was, is Benn better or did he take advantage of Eubanks age and the weight drain? I always thought Eubank was fringe world level which I don't think Benn is but Benn jumped up two weight classes and beat him......thoughts?
rehydration clauses do wonders... I don't think Eubank had the best camp leading into the 2nd one either.
A mixture of factors I think, many of which you listed: - styles make fights - Eubank Jr has a dodgy chin - rehydration, Eubank Jr was clearly not at his best Benn has never been a world level fighter, Eubank Jr was at one point, but he isn't any more. Whereas Ryan Garcia is world-class, he's got weaknesses but he's legitimate.
My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that nothing at all can be taken from either eubank fight, especially the 2nd one- it was just simply a version of Eubank, not excusing him either btw he agreed to it and was fully complicit but purely from a boxing point of view we can’t use it as a comparison
Benn is world level he easily beat Prograis. Can he beat a serious world champion in their prime? No.
Watching it back I honestly believe Benn would have ended up no better off than the infamous Rod Salka vs Danny Garcia if the ref let it reach a natural conclusion. He would have ended up sprawled on the mat seriously hurt, the ref did him a favour. It was that much of a difference in class. Salka is probably as accomplished as Benn since he fought for domestic titles and other titles and won one or two going off his record. I know Benn went life and death with that part timer French dude for a continental belt, defended it a few times then Hearn brought over several washed up veterans and that was his development. I'm not sure how comparable the different titles are. I think Benn has a lot more potential than Salka because he does hit hard enough to be weary of which helps. He has beaten some good fighters even if ancient but technically Salka is no less decorated going off their accomplishments. Malignaggi has been saying for weeks this is a mismatch on comedic levels. He pointed out that Garcia didn't even bother resetting himself after throwing because he knew Benn was not intelligent enough to see that he was out of position. Every single notable fighter Benn has fought basically retired after facing him, he just has had a weird development as a fighter and bypassed so many levels which made him believe he was comparable with his peers. I think he's a fun fighter and he is very disciplined and ambitious and we should applaud that in fighters, he will fight anyone like a bulldog. He just needs to be brought along in a more logical way but he's now sitting at the top table as a headliner so I doubt Zuffa have much interest in him building up from a lower level.
Prograis is shot Also fighting at 147 Benn was supposed to stop him emphatically Interesting where all that power went after the eggman stopped doping
Ryan is good but not great. Benn is not world class. He also drained 30 pounds to make weight for this fight.