Conor Benn will face Chris Eubank Jr. on April 26th, and has built a reputation as a fearsome and explosive puncher.
Conor Benn boasts an undefeated record of 23-0, which he hopes to retain with a win over Chris Eubank Jr. in an extension of the feud between the Benn and Eubank bloodlines.
Eubank Jr. is the natural middle-weight with more experience against high-level opposition, though Benn is a fierce knockout artist intent on stopping his bitter rival.
Years before this feud, though, there was one man from Leamington, England, who found out the hard way about Benn’s power on just 24 hours’ notice.
Mike Cole left his welding job to face Conor Benn in packed O2 Arena
In 2017, on the undercard of Frank Buglioni vs Ricky Summers, Benn, who almost lost to Cedrick Peynaud a few fights later, fought for the seventh time against 4-0-1 Mike Cole.
Cole was not Benn’s original opponent, but with less than a day before the event, ‘The Destroyer’ was left without a fight, and his team scrambled to find someone willing to go up against him.
In an interview with The Leamington Observer, Cole spoke on how he came to hear about the opportunity:
“I was at work welding the top of a boat when my brother told me Edwin was on the phone for me […] Edwin said there’s no one to fight Conor Benn at the 02 tomorrow – I thought ‘great thanks Edwin’ and never really clicked on what he meant.”
Cole recounted the moment he realized what was being asked of him, and how he dropped everything to jump at the chance: “I had to pack all my stuff and quickly dashed home.”
Cole made it to the third round against Benn, who screamed at Adrian Granados for running the whole fight years later, after being dropped in the second, but Benn proved too much for the Leamington man, and the fight was stopped that round.
“It would’ve been nice to train for the event but to be honest there wouldn’t have been a lot we could do. Conor was polished and I believe one day he will be world champion,” Cole said.
As part of Cole’s deal, he was given the chance to fight on Sky on two further occasions, though it seems these never came to fruition, as it appears Cole never fought again after his loss to Benn, who retired three other opponents in a row later in his career.
Mike Cole received heaps of praise from Tony Bellew and Anthony Joshua after Conor Benn fight
In an interview with IFL TV, Cole spoke on his performance and the compliments he received on it:
“A lot of people told me that the likes of Anthony Joshua and Tony Bellew were impressed with my performance. Y’know 20 hours to take a fight with Conor Benn who’s obviously going to be a future world champion was an opportunity, it was a risk.”
“I’ve been told that he’s not a particularly big puncher and I’d like to, on the record, say he is a big puncher.”
Cole summarized: “Six weeks training and it could’ve been different.”