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Topics: Boxing
Ryan Smart
An expert lip reader has revealed what he believes Conor Benn said to Chris Eubank Jr seconds before he was slapped in the face.
Benn was slapped around his face with an egg by Eubank Jr following their pre-fight press conference on Tuesday evening.
The pair will do battle on April 26 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - over 18 months since their original fight date was postponed.
Benn returned what promoters described as an 'adverse analytical finding for trace amounts of a fertility drug', and was provisionally charged and suspended by the UK Anti-Doping Agency.
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But the WBC ruled he had not committed an intentional doping offence after deeming that a 'highly-elevated consumption of eggs' was a 'reasonable explanation' for the adverse finding.
UKAD subsequently lifted its ban in October 2024 after the National Anti-Doping Panel (NAPD) declared that it was not 'comfortably satisfied' that UKAD had proven its case against Benn, leaving him free to fight in the UK again.
Eubank Jr confirmed that the egg saga was the reason for his choice of object to slap his rival with, and posted a photo of his jacket pocket full of eggs prior to the press conference.
Footage later emerged of a close-up of the pair's verbal back-and-forth prior to the slap, with Benn appearing to tell his rival: "It's the only reason you're taking this fight."
Now, an expert lip reader has had his say on what Benn really said.
Professional lip reader Jeremy Foreman told SPORTbible: "[Benn says] 'I struggle to be surprised that you owe Neymar four million quid, that's hilarious. Seriously, that's crazy, right'.
"As the bodyguards mandle Benn, Benn shouts: 'Get off me, get off me'."
Benn repeated his allegation surrounding Eubank Jr and Santos star Neymar - with the pair known to be friends - by stating during the press conference: "He is an idiot. He owes Neymar four million quid - that's why he's taken this fight. So don't talk s**t."
In October, Neymar entered the ring to congratulate Eubank Jr after he defeated Kamil Szeremeta to win the vacant IBO middleweight championship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
He then acted as a mediator to separate Eubank Jr and Benn as the pair had a heated face-off.
There is no apparent evidence to Benn's allegations surrounding Neymar and Eubank Jr did not address them publicly during the press conference.