Conor Benn caused shockwaves when he decided to walk out on Matchroom and take up a lucrative offer with Zuffa Boxing – leaving Barry Hearn fuming with his conduct
Barry Hearn has taken aim at Conor Benn after his Matchroom exit(Image: George Wood/Getty Images)
Barry Hearn has slammed the “classless” way in which Conor Benn has quit Matchroom as he jumped over to Zuffa Boxing without even entertaining a call from Eddie Hearn.
The 29-year-old confirmed the split on Friday night and will now be managed by the Saudi-backed promoter, which is headed up by UFC president Dana White.
Benn decided to walk away from the promoters who have worked with him for 10 years – and also stood by him when he failed a previous drugs test. Eddie Hearn waxed lyrical about Benn after he avenged his loss to Chris Eubank Jnr last year.
Benn claimed Zuffa had “presented me with an opportunity I simply couldn’t refuse” – but when Eddie Hearn made last ditch attempts to discuss the working relationship Benn had no interest in taking his call – with his conduct angering Hearn Snr.
He said: “I didn’t think he was that type of boy. Maybe we got it wrong with Conor. We took his side, and we believed everything he said, and maybe we were wrong. I hope not. It is personally disappointing because it goes beyond money. He has obviously received a huge offer from Dana White and his team.
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“Dana has got Turki Alalshikh’s money behind him, and he needs to sign fighters, and he needs to pay them really well, which he is doing. But that doesn’t mean you have to disband a team that built you. The team was already in place, and each member of the team would have taken a bullet from him at ringside, and you don’t often get that in life and then react like this. It is deeply upsetting… It is a classless way of doing it when you have an open relationship.”
Benn has become the second big-name signing to join Zuffa, following cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia. Eddie Hearn previously talked up the opportunities that would arise following his win over Eubank Jnr, but they will no longer be led by him.
Barry claimed: “When Eddie suggested to him by text that they meet to discuss it, Conor suggested it’s best to go through lawyers. And after 10 years of what we’ve gone through with him, I think in my 50-odd years of promoting sport, this is the most horrible, outrageous (thing).”
Benn, the mandatory challenger for the WBC welterweight title, claims he would’ve been “mentally ill” to turn down the lucrative offer that came his way.
Hearn Snr insists he wouldn’t have any issue with Benn heading down a different path if he’d gone about it a different way. “We have very high standards, but those standards have not been reciprocated,” he said.
