“It’s not just about the purse”: Teddy Atlas names the best fight of 2025

Renowned American trainer Teddy Atlas has named his best fight of 2025. Despite the high level of competition, Atlas singled out one bout that, in his view, surpassed all the others in totality.

“Fight of the Year. It’s very hard to pick a winner in this category because there were so many worthy contenders. We had Christian Mbilli vs. Lester Martínez — an incredible fight, just incredible. The rematch between Bivol and Beterbiev. The fight between Dzunto Nakatani and Sebastián Hernández — that was something unbelievable. Kenshiro Teraji against Seigo Akui, Callum Smith against Joshua Buatsi. And that’s just part of the shortlist.

But I’ll go straight to who I see as the winner — it’s the fight between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn. Their first fight, not the rematch. For many reasons. As I said, there were so many options. You can recall Nakatani vs Hernández — we highlighted that one as well, and we weren’t wrong. But that bout may still be fresh in your memory, so you might say: ‘Oh, that’s the fight,’ simply because you remember it and it was incredible. And Mbilli vs Lester Martínez was also an incredible fight. So it’s hard to choose — all of them were worthy candidates.

But for me, Eubank vs Benn was the Fight of the Year not only because of what happened in the ring, but also because of everything that led up to it. The backdrop involving the fathers of both fighters, the massive crowd, the atmosphere, the family history hanging over this fight. All the highs and lows of the bout, the sheer will and pride of both men — we saw all of that in the other contenders too. But here, those qualities felt especially sharp because of the antagonism and what was at stake.

It wasn’t just about the purse or the usual things that come with a win — it was about their families’ reputations. And they defended them with honour. I don’t think anyone expected this kind of fight — and that also became part of its greatness. It just blew everyone away. So that’s my Fight of the Year,” Atlas said.

On 26 April, Chris Eubank Jr (35-4, 25 KOs) defeated Conor Benn (24-1, 14 KOs) by unanimous decision. In the ninth round, Chris suffered a cut after a clash of heads.

In the rematch on 15 November, Benn got his revenge, winning by unanimous decision and scoring a knockdown in the 12th round.