Conor Benn shows vulnerability: "I've sacrificed too much for me to not perform"; the son of legend Nigel Benn is in the toughest fight of his life against Sebastian Formella on Saturday night, live on Sky Sports, and was in an intense and emotional mood at the press conference
Thursday 19 November 2020 16:59, UK
Conor Benn emotionally promised not to let his potential "slip between my fingers" at the hands of Sebastian Formella.
Benn is in the hardest fight of his career against Formella on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, and upped the intensity and passion when they met for the first time at a press conference.
Benn became tearful when detailing the strain of leaving his loved ones in Australia, where he grew up with his father Nigel Benn, to chase his dream as a boxer, then said: "I've come a long way and realised how much I missed out on with my family, and how much it's taken just to get here.
"I used to get up at 5am, walk to the station freezing cold, do my sprints, sleep at the gym, go back again. Nobody was telling me to do that.
"I miss my family, watching them grow up, my little sister.
"The novelty does wear off. I miss my family.
"On Saturday night I will take that frustration out on my opponent. I've worked too hard to get to where I am now to let it slip between my fingers.
"To many, I'm a role model. To the older generation, I will always be Nigel Benn's son but the younger generation say to him: 'Oh, you are Conor Benn's dad!'
"There will be ups and downs. I have come through adversity.
"The sky is the limit. I will reach the end goal but I won't put a time limit on it. I don't know when. I don't know what I'll have to go through to get there.
"But I will get there because I've too hard."
Rising welterweight contender Benn, 24, is undefeated in 16 fights but will face the most stringent examination of his potential on Saturday.
Germany's Formella has lost just once in 24 - when he went the distance with former world champion Shawn Porter.
An intense Benn insisted: "I plan to show that I am the business. My four-year apprenticeship is done, finished. I'm here to prove that I am a contender.
"He's a tough opponent but that doesn't bother me. People said Jussi Koivula would beat me but he got banged out. If you get hit by a right hand, left hook then it doesn't matter who you are.
"I've got to win in good fashion. I'm good for 10 rounds or to get him out in the first couple.
"It's not down to him. It doesn't matter what he does.
"If he wants to move I'll hunt him down. If he wants to have a tear-up? More fool him, I'll soon make him regret that.
"He's nice and polite - trying to be Andy Ruiz Jr - waving at me from across the room!
"It ain't all good when we get in there. I know he thinks this is an easy fight.
"I've sacrificed too much for me to not perform."
Benn insisted that fighting behind closed doors would not negatively impact him: "My dad had his concerns but a fight is a fight. I'd fight in a telephone box. I don't need much to get me going.
"Crowd or no crowd? I fight for my pride. I go in there to take care of business."
Promoter Eddie Hearn said: "I'm very, very nervous for Benn.
"This is a massive step up and we don't know if he is good enough. What we've seen in the gym tells us that he is."
