Promoter Eddie Hearn reveals a moment that he regrets from 2022.
Hearn had a big year, as he entered new territories, gained world champions to the Matchroom stable and continued to build on the promotional company’s success, however, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the promoter.
Speaking with IFL TV, Hearn was doing a reflection on 2022, and was asked what his biggest regret was. The promoter revealed that the hours after the story about Conor Benn’s failed drug test was published during the fight week of Benn’s clash with Chris Eubank Jr and facing the media in the immediate aftermath of the story breaking was his biggest regret.
“The only time we were at fault in that situation was the moment that we were told that the board wouldn’t sanction that fight, it was the few hours after where the heads went a little bit to think that we’ve been f**ked here,
“You’ve had this for nearly a month, and now you wanna make this decision, you wanna leak something to the press, and it was ego, it was, you know, it was a mistake to even address the media at the workout to say no, hang on a minute, we wanna speak to our lawyers, we wanna speak to the board.
“But it was just, yeah it was handled so badly by situations out of our control as well.
“We are guided by a governing body and we waited on that decision and when it came, I probably regret addressing the media straight away, like you know when we went to the workout.
“But you’re thinking on your feet, you got to understand, you’ve had this situation, you’re waiting on a decision from the British Boxing Board of Control and then you get the decision as you’re driving to the workout, and you have a decision to make at that moment, the undercard are working out, Conor Benn and Chris Eubank are on their way to the workout, what, do you pull the workout, proceed with the workout? No, you proceed with the workout and we’ll deal with this.
“Probably those few hours, I would say were probably a mistake.”
The fight was cancelled the next day, however, since this, Benn has released a statement claiming that the truth of this whole situation will come to light soon, and Chris Eubank Jr has taken a fight against former world champion, Liam Smith which takes place on January 21st.
Hearn promises a big year from Matchroom in 2023, and has began to announce his first shows of 2023, with the first UK announcement being Leigh Wood’s rescheduled clash with Mauricio Lara. As the promoter continues to reveal his schedule, he has yet to confirm when Benn will return.