By James Hicken
Copyright independent
Johnny Nelson believes Conor Benn is capable of turning the tables and claiming victory in his rematch with Chris Eubank Jr on November 15.
The former cruiserweight world champion revealed his analysis of Eubank Jr’s performance in the first fight leads him to believe that ‘Next Gen’ cannot do any better when he steps in the ring with Benn again.
“Personally, I just think, the last performance of Chris I thought ‘you’ve got nothing left’,” Nelson told talkSPORT. “There’s no more improvement on what I’m seeing there, and I know there was the weight issue in the build-up – I thought there was no more improvement, and that’s what worries me.”
Eubank Jr and Benn went through 12 rounds of gruelling combat in April, putting on a fight of the year contender, with both men on the brink of collapse after throwing everything they had at one another. Eubank Jr walked away as the deserving victor via unanimous decision.
But Nelson believes Eubank Jr being taken the distance by Benn, who had come up from welterweight, is a sign that the smaller man can “without a doubt” win the rematch if he makes the necessary adjustments.
“He couldn’t have done any more,” Nelson said. “If he could’ve knocked out Conor Benn in that fight, he would have done. He just couldn’t get rid of him.”
Going into the rematch, Eubank Jr, now 36, will be seven years Benn’s elder and Nelson feels this could be a deciding factor if Benn can force the pace of the fight for 12 rounds.
“Conor knows I’ve got to maintain that pace and make him work for at least 2 minutes and 45 seconds a round,” Nelson explained. “He [Eubank Jr] is in there a young man who’s got the natural speed and the agility.”
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