Eddie Hearn has been told that his emotional reaction to losing one of his biggest stars bordered on parody given his own history with fighters.
The Matchroom Boxing boss was stunned last month when Conor Benn, whom he had taken from his professional debut to two stadium headliners against Chris Eubank Jr, left for Dana White and Zuffa Boxing without so much as a phone call.
Dana White or Eddie Hearn: Who is the best promoter?
Pick your favorite combat sports promoter
But Boxxer’s Ben Shalom reckons Hearn has done similar in the past to sign up fighters, and thinks his reaction to the entire ordeal is farcical. The pair have been at odds for years, and last year one of Shalom’s biggest stars Ben Whittaker made the switch to Matchroom.
Ben Shalom slams Eddie Hearn over ‘parody’ reaction to Conor Benn move
After watching Eddie Hearn react so emotionally to Conor Benn’s move, rival promoter Ben Shalom was not the least bit impressed. And during an appearance on TalkSPORT, he even questioned the legitimacy of such a reaction at all.
He noted that Benn and Anthony Joshua, the two fighters Hearn cites as the closest thing to friends he has in the business, also happen to be the ones who have generated him the most income in their big-money fights.
“To be honest, the way they reacted, I thought it was a parody,” Shalom said in a scathing rant about his rival and their business. “I thought it was a complete joke. I mean, they have been doing this to fighters and taking various fighters, that have been built up by other promoters, for a long time.
“They put it down to money and ‘short careers’, putting it down to ‘there is no loyalty in boxing’ and glorifying it, taking the Mickey with it. I genuinely could not believe the reaction to Conor going to the highest bidder.”
Shalom also laughed at the idea of loyalty being mentioned, citing the example of Matchroom’s CEO Frank Smith with whom he also shares a bitter feud. He is engaged to Eubank’s sister Emily, but still publicly backed Benn during both of their intense grudge matches last year.
Receive a digest of our best Bloody Elbow content each week direct to your mailbox
Subscribe to my channel
