Middleweight title hopeful Chris Eubank Jr. is gearing up for a major 2025 with eyes on world honours as well as some of the biggest names in the sport. Ahead of this, the loud-mouthed former IBO world champion has signed with Ben Shalom’s Boxxer and during today’s Beterbiev-Bivol press conference, on which he fights on the undercard, Eubank Jr. explained that he didn’t sign with an alternative promoter because they are all ‘scumbags’.
Eubank Jr. suffered a first career knockout defeat when he was surprisingly halted by Liam Smith in January 2023, but the 35-year-old bounced back in style by evening the scores and stopping the Liverpudlian in their rematch later in the year – although he is yet to fight since.
After rumours that we would finally face Conor Benn or even agree to a fruitful clash with Canelo Alvarez, it was confirmed that Eubank Jr. would fight on a ‘Riyadh Season’ card for the first time on the Beterbiev-Bivol bill against Kamil Szeremeta.
At today’s launch press conference, Eubank Jr. slammed each of the major promoters in British boxing, aside from Ben Shalom, as shown in a clip captured by Michael Benson.
‼️ Chris Eubank Jr calls Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn "scumbags" to their faces in an explosive press conference speech today…
[🎥 @Queensberry] pic.twitter.com/Tc51njkDHp
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) September 25, 2024
“Why [have I chosen to sign with] Boxxer? Because every other promoter out here is a scumbag – that’s why.
“We’ve got Frank Warren behind me, he has been lying and cheating his way through boxing for the last couple of decades. He sued me for a couple hundreds of thousands a few years ago, so obviously I was never going to go with him, the guy is a scumbag.
“Kalle Sauerland, he had me locked up in a terrible contract for the last few years – squeezing money out of me at every opportunity – scumbag.
“Eddie Hearn and Frank Smith – they did everything that they could to try and make this fight against Conor Benn still go ahead after knowing that he was on steroids – scumbags.
“I would say that the only promoter that I know for sure isn’t a scumbag is His Excellency, Turki Al-Alshikh. This is a man who isn’t trying to take money from fighters, he isn’t trying to use lawyers and accountants to lock fighters up in slave contracts. He is a man of God, he is a man of religion, that is what is most important to the people of Saudi Arabia. He just wants to put the biggest fights on, the best events on and pay fighters what they are worth.
“As a fighter, it is a blessing to be a fighter at this moment in time because this is the first time that we have ever had a promoter like this in the history of boxing. Oh and Ben Shalom is a very cool guy too.”
Eubank Jr.’s comments prompted the expected response from Frank Warren – who called for him to take on Queensberry’s middleweight world title contender Hamzah Sheeraz. However, before talks for that domestic dust-up can commence, Eubank Jr. must first overcome Poland’s former world title challenger, Szeremeta, on October 12th.
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