Conor Benn’s decision to sign with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing rather than stick with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom has rocked the sport. Chris Eubank Jr, who shared the ring with Benn twice last year, shared his very brand-specific assessment.
On Friday, Benn announced his collaboration with Whitesurprising fans and analysts. His relationship with Hearn was previously thought to be impenetrable, having started since his professional debut in 2016 and endured through hard periods such as his extremely public failure of a doping test – a period in which Hearn was unequivocally supportive of him.
Once Benn and Hearn were allowed to fight on British soil, they quickly set about re-arranging the canceled Eubank fight. This was followed by two great performances at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium which lifted the teenage Briton’s spirits, especially as he took revenge for the defeat in the second leg. Since then, it looked like promoter and fighter were making substantial plans for the future, but instead Benn signed a deal – one fight, eight figures, as Chris Mannix reports – with White, who is quickly becoming Hearn’s fierce rival with just four appearances in his boxing career.
I keep talking XEubank reveled in this news.
“Eddieeeee, how are you feeling, buddy?”
“So Eddie Hearn’s No. 1 fighter abandoned him. Eddie stuck with Conor Benn through broad and slim, freeing him from drug charges and giving him money to live on when he had nothing. I think it really shows what a bastard Hearn actually is… he saves his fighters’ lives and careers, and Conor still refuses to have any contact with him. Or is Benn a scumbag who dumped the man who built him? This really is a mystery. Blindness about violence at its best.” release… don’t say I didn’t tell you.
Eubank also shared a video clip of Hearn’s reaction, saying:
“Wow, Eddie Hearn, you saved this man’s life and his career, and he didn’t even call you! I knew you were a piece of shit, but Conor must have seen you do some really bad things that he wouldn’t let you even make one phone call. And Conor, regardless of the reason you stabbed that idiot in the back (he’s an idiot for thinking he can trust you), just know what happens, it always comes back… you’ll get yours too.”
Hearn said he was “devastated” by the news and was surprised when Benn declined to talk by phone about the situation.