Chris Eubank Jr has made an emotional plea to his father Chris Eubank Sr – calling on his father to get back in his corner ahead of his potential fight with Conor Benn next year.

For years, the former two-weight world champion and father of four was a central figure in his son’s career – a constant presence in the gym, in the ring and at press conferences.

However, Eubank Snr has not appeared in his son’s corner since 2019 and caused controversy by agreeing with those who called his son a “charlatan” following last year’s knockout defeat to Liam Smith.

Eubank Jr hopes his father will return to his side when he faces Benn – with a potential fight planned for May after Turki Alalshikh declared his interest in the fight following Eubank Jr’s victory over Kamil Szeremeta.

Eubank Jr says it’s important his father is involved in the fight – which was originally scheduled to take place in 2022 before Benn’s failed drug test – given their intense rivalry stems from their father’s epic fight in the 1990s 1990.

Chris Eubank Jr has made an emotional plea to his father Chris Eubank Sr – calling on his father to get back in his corner ahead of his potential fight with Conor Benn next year.

For years, former boxing great Eubank Snr (pictured above, right) was a central figure in his son’s career – a constant presence in the gym, in the ring and at press conferences.

However, Eubank Snr has not appeared in his son’s corner since 2019 and made headlines by agreeing with those who called the 34-year-old a ‘charlatan’ following his defeat to Liam Smith .

Eubank Jr’s fight with Benn looks more likely than ever after Benn’s doping suspension was lifted earlier this month – with the National Anti-Doping Committee saying it was “not comfortably satisfied” that British Anti-Doping had proven that Benn had committed a violation of the rules.

However, the proposed fight with Benn was a major sticking point in their relationship due to his father’s concerns about weight management and the health risks associated with it.

Talk to iFL TV about his father, Eubank Jr said: “Him not being part of my boxing career didn’t go well. For many years, as you know, he was always right next to me or in front of me. That was exactly who he was. It was just part of his thing.

“So you take that away – what I did and what I had to do – and I guess he couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t take it. Or he didn’t want to accept it. So, it affected our relationship on a personal level. Which shouldn’t be the case.

“It’s a business. It’s a career. This should not affect the father-son relationship. But he doesn’t know how to do it and he can’t separate the two. So I feel like I’m going to have to retire and step away from the sport so he can mentally connect with me again.

“After the Conor Benn fight is over, I’ll text him again and say, I want you by my side. I want you by my side dad. This is the story. This is going to be the biggest fight in the UK – maybe never. We should be there together.

Speaking to Mail Sport about his relationship with his father in September, Eubank Jr said: ‘My father and I are in a strange and somewhat strange place in our lives at the moment,’ Eubank Jnr told Mail Sport.

“It’s very difficult to go through a whole career with your dad and then not have him around in terms of boxing. I just felt like it was what I needed.

Eubank Jr dominated Kamil Szeremeta to force a seventh-round stoppage in Saudi Arabia

Conor Benn, right, stormed the ring and confronted Eubank Jr with Neymar in the middle

Turki Alalshikh (pictured above) revealed that their grudge match is tentatively scheduled for May.

He added: “I think this situation is probably going to continue for some time. I think I’ll have to retire so we can become father and son, because at the moment he can’t separate business and boxing from just being my father.

“I told him I didn’t need advice. I don’t need a coach. I don’t need a mentor. I just need a father. But he can’t do that. He’s still trying to figure out that dynamic, so I just have to let him go, let him do his thing.

Eubank Jr has no hostility towards his father. Instead, he expressed his disappointment at those exploiting his father’s mental state and made it clear to Mail Sport that their distancing was not about rejecting his support but about his own natural desire for independence.

“I felt like I wanted – and I would tell him this too – to make my own decisions. My career could no longer be controlled by my father,” he said. “I’m going to write a book one day and the book can’t be everything my father told me to do, I done. I have to find my own path and I have to make my own choices.

“He guided me, he helped me. He stayed by my side from the start. But as an adult now, I am confident enough to make my own choices. Whether for better or worse, I have to do it,” says Eubank Jnr.

“If I succeed, so much the better. If I fail, it’s still great, because it was my fault. I can’t fail because of something I did that someone else told me to do. I wasn’t going to give him that power or that pressure.

“I wanted everything to rest on me. As a man, I think it’s fair. But it was hard for him to hear it because throughout my life he was always there. He was always the one controlling me and telling me what to do, and I followed him. So it was difficult for him to manage. This state of mind, what I was saying and I wanted to move forward. He had a hard time with it.