Boxing Round of 2025: Chris Eubank vs. Conor Benn 1's final sprint was the sport in its rawest form
If Round of the Year is meant to capture boxing at its most honest, there is no debate that Round 12 of April's first Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn fight was boxing in its rawest form, a final three minutes that turned an already savage grudge match into a defining moment of 2025.
Two surnames that shaped an era collided again, not through nostalgia but through blood, pride and resentment that never cooled. Hall of Famers Chris Eubank Sr. and Nigel Benn never truly finished their argument in the early 1990s. Their sons picked it up decades later, louder and angrier. What started as promotion escalated into real hostility long before April's opening bell, punctuated by Eubank Jr. cracking Benn with an egg at a press conference. Silly on the surface, revealing underneath. This feud was never going to simmer.
Then, across 12 rounds, both men delivered. Eubank leaned into pace and volume. Benn fought with defiance and spite. The numbers reflect a war. Eubank landed 367 of 912 punches. Benn landed 215 of 593. The jab gap was massive, 150 to 35 in Eubank's favor, while power punches stayed competitive at 227 to 180. Neither man slowed. Neither conceded ground.
By Round 12, structure was gone. Guards were loose. Strategy was irrelevant. This was about finishing the rivalry.
Benn came out knowing the clock was hunting him. He threw 78 punches and landed 29, swinging with desperation and intent. Hooks, overhands, everything aimed to change the fight in an instant.
Eubank answered with force and volume. He threw 122 punches in the final round and landed 57, 54 of which were power punches. That output is absurd for any round, nearly unheard of in the 12th. He did not coast nor protect a lead — he pressed. Combinations poured in. Benn kept firing, refusing to fade. The arena felt it.
Every exchange carried history, every punch felt personal. Round 12 of Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn meant everything.
Boxing's 2025 had plenty of great moments. But no single round captured the sport’s soul like those final three minutes. No wonder the public, and the fighters, demanded an immediate rematch only a few months later.
Honorable mentions
Isaac Cruz vs. Ángel Fierro — Round 10
By the time the 10th round arrived, Isaac Cruz and Ángel Fierro had already given the crowd everything it asked for. Then Jimmy Lennon Jr. put words to the feeling in the room. At his urging, the entire arena rose to its feet and applauded both fighters before the bell even rang. It was an acknowledgment, not a farewell. Cruz and Fierro responded the only way they knew how.
Round 10 became a fitting exclamation point to one of 2025’s purest wars. Fierro threw 102 punches, landing 29. Cruz answered with 75 thrown and 24 landed. Power shots flew nonstop, 23 landed by Fierro, 22 by Cruz, each exchange louder than the last. There was no stalling, no clinching, no riding out the clock. Just two fighters trading until the final bell, honoring the ovation by turning their last three minutes into a round for the ages.
Naoya Inoue vs. Ramon Cardenas — Round 2
Naoya Inoue’s 2025 title defense against Ramon Cardenas was the fight that reminded everyone why boxing thrives on adversity and comeback. Early in the bout, Cardenas shocked the crowd with a perfectly timed left hook that put the pound-for-pound star on the canvas in Round 2. It was only the second knockdown of Inoue’s career, shaking the trajectory of the fight and the rhythm of the champion.
But Inoue regrouped with the ferocity fans expect and flipped the narrative. He backed Cardenas up in later rounds and sent him down in Round 7 before forcing an eighth-round stoppage to retain his undisputed super bantamweight crown. The juxtaposition of Cardenas’ stunning early success and Inoue’s relentless recovery made this one of the most talked-about matchups of 2025.
Abdullah Mason vs. Sam Noakes – Round 11
Abdullah Mason and Sam Noakes pushed each other into deep waters, but the fight’s defining stretch came in the final minute of the 11th round. Both fighters took turns landing flush shots to the head, trading without hesitation as fatigue set in. Noakes dug a right hand to the body that forced Mason to move with about a minute remaining, briefly shifting momentum in a fight that refused to slow.
Mason answered that moment with urgency. Rather than back off, he pressed, firing combinations and standing his ground down the stretch. That closing sequence captured the hunger driving him forward — less about surviving tough rounds, more about proving readiness for something bigger. Mason looked like a fighter chasing history, intent on becoming boxing’s youngest current male world champion, willing to absorb risk to leave with the title at all cost.
