Boxing: Eubank Jr settles score after beating Conor Benn

A long time family feud was somewhat settled Saturday night as Chris Eubank Jr survived a brutal grudge fight against Conor Benn to seal a unanimous points decision against his bitter rival at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.

Eubank Jr won the all-British catchweight fight after the three judges scored it 116-112 in his favour.

35-year-old Eubank traded blows with his nemesis throughout a gruelling 12-round showdown at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that ranked as the latest chapter in the Eubank-Benn family feud.

There was no love lost between Chris Eubank Sr and Benn's father Nigel when they famously went head to head in two bouts in the 1990s and their sons Eubank Jr and Benn produced a gritty contest that sparked memories of the clashes between their fathers, with both dads watching at ringside in north London.

"I knew I could do that, I just needed someone to bring that out of me and I didn't think that he would be the guy to do that," Eubank Jr said.

"The fact our fathers did it years ago brings out a different spirit into you and that's what we showed here tonight."

Eubank Jr had missed the weight for the fight by 0.05lb, earning a £375 000 ($499 000) fine after two attempts at weighing in at 160lb.

But he was still in condition to last the pace against Benn, who is seven years younger. As expected, Benn came out hot, with the more elusive Eubank Jr doing well to evade the majority of the power punches.

Benn was out on his feet by the final bell and it was enough evidence for the judges to score a clear win in favour of Eubank Jr.

Blaming a lack of recent action for his loss, Benn told reporters: "Fourteen months out of the ring played a factor, that would be the only thing, inactivity. I felt like it was a close fight. I'm not going to say 'yeah I should have won that', I've got to watch it back. It was close."

"I stayed on the ropes maybe a bit too long and he worked harder towards the end," he added.

Inevitably, there will be talk of another bout between the rivals and Benn said: "If we don't do the rematch, which I'd love to do to avenge the loss, I'll go down to welterweight and win the WBC world title."

"It's either (WBC welterweight champion) Mario Barrios or the rematch with Eubank, whichever happens next I'll be content with," Benn commented.