Conor Benn has become accustomed to breaking headlines over the past couple of years. Tomorrow night he begins life under new promoter Zuffa Boxing, despite the event headlined by Tyson Fury and Arslanbek Makhmudov not being a Zuffa promotion. However, the bridges between Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing and Turki Alalshikh’s Ring Magazine events are plenty.
Shortly after Benn’s reported $15 million one-fight deal with White’s new boxing company, the English welterweight was announced to fight Regis Prograis in the chief support at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday. The two-part story had left Benn’s former promoter, Eddie Hearn, feeling betrayed and let down by a fighter he gone into overdrive for due to multiple failed PED tests in the lead up to an originally penned bout with Chris Eubank Jr in 2022.
It’s all been very public on Hearn’s side of the fence. The Matchroom Boxing spearhead has claimed that he lent Benn large amounts of money to buy a Rolls Royce and a new house, totaling over half a million pounds. Which was paid back.
However, Benn (24-1, 14 KOs) has taken a much calmer approach to the Hearn’s comments, consistently expressing that he has “nothing but love for Eddie and Matchroom.” Benn was asked to address the situation at yesterday’s official press conference.
“There has been a lot of noise and there has been a lot of noise throughout my career,” Benn said. “Ultimately, I love Eddie! Period, point blank. Irrelevant of what has been said, irrelevant of all the noise, irrelevant of the bank and forth. I’m not here for that. I’m not here for the noise. I got love for Eddie.”
Hearn and Matchroom signed Benn without much of an amateur background and yet to have a professional bout in 2016. His father Nigel Benn had been a household name in the UK, winning world titles at both middleweight and super middleweight. His famous rivalry with Chris Eubank in the early 1990’s paved the way for Chris Eubank Jr and Benn too selling out Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last year.
“I’ve done what is best for me and my family,” Benn added. “I’ve secured my family’s future. That for me is more important than anything else on the planet. And any man can respect that. Ultimately, I got love for the man. God willing, when this is all said and done, we can sit down and have a chat together. My door is open. I have no ill feelings toward Eddie, Matchroom, Barry [Hearn]. I got love for the whole team; I got love for the family. But ultimately this about securing my family’s legacy, solidifying my legacy and making sure that my kid’s kids are going to private school.”
