WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman Says Conor Benn-Chris Eubank Winner “Is Going To Be A Major Player In Boxing Worldwide”

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, in speaking with Sky Sports, said that the winner of this Saturday night’s heavily hyped British grudge-match between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Junior “is going to be a major player in boxing worldwide.” And, as such, the winner of Saturday’s fight will, in Sulaiman’s view, be eligible to challenge world super-middleweight champ Canelo Alvarez.

“Both are ranked, have been highly ranked for many years, and are top-level in the sport. A fight for the championship is doable,” Sulaiman said of Eubank Jr and Benn. “Absolutely. Canelo has embarked on a new stage of his career. He will fight in Riyadh and is then scheduled to fight in Las Vegas, and the winner this Saturday is going to be a major player in boxing worldwide, certainly.”

It might strike some fans as odd that Sulaiman has said that Saturday’s winner will be a “major player” on the world stage. Maybe, if Benn wins on Saturday, yeah, he could drop back down to welterweight and win a world title and therefore make some real noise at world title level; this is actually Benn’s grand plan. But if Eubank wins, why would he suddenly become a major player at an elite level? Eubank has been around for some time, and he has fought for a world title more than once and has failed to win a major belt.

At age 35, would even a Eubank with a win over Benn – a fighter who the critics say is unproven at anything like elite level (Eddie Hearn himself said last week that Saturday’s fight is one between “two top-15 guys in the world”) – become a major player? Plenty of fans will likely answer no.

As for challenging Canelo, Benn is simply too small, and no way he would be a match for Canelo up at 168 pounds. Eubank, if he beats Benn, may well call again for a shot at the Mexican star. But who out there would be willing to give Eubank much more than an outside chance of beating even a 35-year-old Canelo?

It’s good for British boxing that the eyes of the world will be on Saturday’s fight at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but in all truth and honesty, this fight is merely a domestic showdown that has attracted a whole lot of hype due to the two practitioners being the sons of two British boxing greats.

Whoever wins on Saturday will still have a lot to prove as far as being an elite, top-level world class fighter.

Agree or disagree?