On 15 November, Eubank Jr was vastly outpointed by Benn, who floored his fellow Brit twice in the final round. The fight took place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, seven months after Eubank Jr beat Benn on points at the same venue.
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Eubank Jr, 36, looked sluggish throughout the rematch and later hinted that he had been “through hell and back” in the lead-up.
He declined to elaborate on what had negatively impacted his preparations and appealed to Shalom not to discuss the matter at the post-fight press conference.
Now, Shalom has addressed Eubank Jr’s future, telling The Ring: “I think it’s a ‘when’ he’ll fight again and not an ‘if’ at this point.
“I think he’ll have the time to recover now. He threw 30 percent of the punches he could in the first fight, his body wasn’t there and he wasn’t ready. He couldn’t do what he needed to do.
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“And look: there are reasons for that, it’s not my place to even talk about them. The main thing for me is that, when he fights again, he will have to have dealt with that.
“Talking to him, I feel like he has the motivation to fight again, so now he’s going to have to deal with that and what happened.”
Benn, 29, ruled out the idea of a trilogy fight after his redemption, while Eubank Jr seemed more open to the possibility.
Benn, who fought Eubank Jr at middleweight in both of his fights, is considering a return to his preferred welterweight division, where he wants a world title fight or a big-name opponent.
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“That wasn’t Chris Eubank Jr in the ring that night,” Shalom continued. “I know it, you know it, anyone who has watched him for the last 15 years knows it.
“Now it’s time for him to make sure he gets in the ring at 100 percent, not 50 or 60. That’s what he was, and it wasn’t pretty for him. He managed to get through the rounds and give us all a huge show, but it wasn’t him.
Eubank Jr with his promoter Ben Shalom before the first fight against Benn (Getty Images)
“Was it because the fight was at middleweight? I don’t know. Maybe I would feel more comfortable with him fighting at super middleweight from now on.”
Eubank Jr nearly missed weight in his first fight with Benn, and the middleweight limit was a key point of contention in the lead-up to that fight.
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Eubank Sr, a British boxing icon, criticized the fact that Benn was forced to gain weight and that his own son had to cut it. However, while Eubank Jr has fought at super middleweight in the past, in recent years he has fought primarily at middleweight.
Eubank Sr arrived late and surprised his son’s first fight with Benn, while he was more involved in preparing for the rematch. In the 1990s, Eubank Sr. fought Benn’s father Nigel twice, beating the latter in the first match and drawing the second.