Eubank Jr.’s Return Confirmed, Will Be At 168
Chris Eubank Jr. is planning his boxing comeback for the summer, but he’ll be doing it in a new weight class.
After a difficult 2025 battling a mystery illness, the 36-year-old is moving up to super-middleweight to prioritize his long-term health. The decision follows his November 2025 rematch with Conor Benn. Despite beating Benn earlier that year, Eubank looked like a “shell of himself” in the second fight, lacking his usual energy and ultimately losing by decision.
The situation turned out to be serious; in December, Eubank posted a concerning video from a hospital bed showing him undergoing an endoscopy. He admitted he had been fighting through significant health issues for over a year and promised fans he wouldn’t step back into the ring until he was “100%.”
Promoter Ben Shalom recently shared that Eubank has been undergoing various medical procedures to finally “flush out” these underlying problems. Many believe the strict weight limits and rehydration clauses from the Benn fights—which prevented Eubank from weighing more than 170 pounds on fight night—likely made his condition worse.
By moving up to 168 pounds, Eubank can avoid these dangerous weight cuts. Shalom expects Eubank to be fully cleared and ready to fight by the middle of 2026. While his next opponent hasn’t been named, the move to super-middleweight opens up potential big-name matchups in a division.
Shalom Reacts
“I actually am going to see him this week, he’s had a lot of stuff to do medically to really try and flush and get rid of what he’s been dealing with. So once that’s done he will be back, probably at 168. But there was an underlying issue that he had to get rid of and I think we all knew that, but hopefully looking forward to him being back in the middle of the year.
“Are the rehydration clauses, should they be banned by the board? Yeah, but we’re all, the promoters and the fighters are always going to do anything in their advantage. Every advantage you can take in the fight you’re going to take. So when you offer fighters loads of money to do stupid things, that’s what they do, that’s unfortunately it.
“Most people wouldn’t get in a ring for money, so they’re going to offer, they’ll accept anything, and that’s where it takes the regulator to say, ‘That’s not allowed.’ It shouldn’t be allowed. I regret seeing it, but ultimately the fighters have that choice over their own body and there’s only so much you can do. It won’t happen again, but I wouldn’t want to see it again in boxing to be honest. I think it’s really dangerous and will lead to something pretty bad,” Shalom said
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