The grudge match was two and a half years in the making, ever since Benn failed two drug tests and a scheduled fight in 2022 was cancelled.
With a lack of transparency behind the reasons for his doping offence, he was given a villain’s welcome.
Jeers reverberated around the stadium as he walked with his father, Nigel Benn, and a choir sang ‘Ready or Not’ by Fugees.
Eubank Jr took his time on his ring walk, making Benn wait for about 10 minutes. He too was joined by his father to the tune of Tina Turner’s ‘Simply the Best’ – a song which the legend Eubank Sr walked out to in his heyday.
The crowd erupted when Nigel Benn and Eubank Sr shared a hug before the first bell. The ‘wall of sound’ South Stand amplified the already ear-splitting pandemonium, and a sea of camera lights added to the spectacle.
But the bloodline rivalry, doping scandal and egg slap all led to their sons, nobody else, standing face-to-face inside a boxing ring.
