Chris Eubank Jr has opened up on the suffering in his private life as a means of deflecting puerile weight slurs from Conor Benn ahead of their controversial fight on Saturday.

The 35-year-old was labelled ‘fat boy’ by Benn at a heated press conference on Thursday, with the inference that he will struggle to boil down to the 160-pound middleweight limit for their showdown at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

When Benn probed at the ‘pain’ Eubank was experiencing in shedding pounds, his opponent was sharp in his response. Pointing to the death of his brother Sebastian in 2021 and his estrangement from his father, Chris Eubank Sr, partly because of a row over the agreed weight for this fight, Eubank Jr said: ‘What is pain, though?

‘I have a 31-year-old brother who is buried in the desert in Dubai, that is pain. I have his son, three years old, he asks why can't I see my daddy? Why can't he take me to school? That is pain.

‘My own father, a man I idolised for my entire life, and he doesn't speak to me. We haven't spoken for years and he thinks I'm a disgrace. These things are what pain is to me.’

Eubank Jr has also accused Benn of training in Spain to avoid abuse on the streets of Britain following his two failed drugs tests for clomifene. While Benn was cleared of cheating by the authorities, the furore caused their original fight in October 2022 to be cancelled.

Benn’s team have previously investigated the possibility that egg consumption caused his failed tests - a defence mocked by Eubank Jnr, who smashed an egg into the face of Benn at a February press conference.

‘Conor speaks about pressure and dealing with it,’ Eubank Jr said. ‘There is a reason why he had his training camp in Spain... he had to flee.

‘He couldn't handle the pressure of walking the UK streets and have people shouting out drug cheat and making egg jokes.

‘He took himself away and thinks he can use me to get back into the good graces.

‘I haven't hid, I've been on these streets, I've spoken with kids, I've done media obligations and have felt the energy on UK streets over the past two months.’ 

 He continued: 'It is about preparing to get this kid out of boxing. Now I have a duty to boxing, to the public him and Eddie Hearn have lied to people and I'll erase them. 

'All that matters is what happens when the bell goes, whatever strategy or game plan they have won't prepare them for the fire coming. 

'It's not about strength and speed and age and weight, it's about dedication, who's paid their dues and done it clean, who is real and who is fake. All those categories are in my favour.'

Eubank Jr also refused to let Eddie Hearn speak at the press conference in comical scenes. 

Hearn was prepared for this, so brought his No 2 Frank Smith on stage in an attempt to placate the fighter, to no avail. 

The Matchroom promoters were only allowed to speak when Eubank Jr asked a question to them, according to the headliner. 

And he asked Hearn about reigniting their £1million bet on the fight. Hearn then finally managed to speak without being interrupted, saying: 'If I won't have any penalties I'll consider it, get back to the hotel, get the weight off and get ready for an absolute spanking.'

Benn was more succinct in his answers but brimming with self belief, insisting there's no way he loses the grudge match on Saturday.

'This is what I do, this is every fighter's dream,' he said. 

'There's no more pressure than on a 19-year-old at a packed O2 Arena. No pressure, I live for this, I've had the fight 100 times in my head, I'm not going to lower myself to Chris, all that PR is done. 

'Concentrate on getting the weight off, fat boy. It is always personal, I'm an emotional fighter, he is another man, I won't be losing to a man who's name is Eubank. I'm coming to take his head off.'