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Eddie Hearn has fired back at Chris Eubank Sr after calling for a boycott of his own son’s fight against Conor Benn – calling him “very stubborn”.
Chris Eubank Jr will face Benn at the O2 Arena on Saturday night in one of the most highly anticipated British boxing fights in recent history, although his father has regularly expressed his opposition over fears of a dangerous weight loss.
Both men agreed to fight at a catchweight of 157 pounds – three pounds below the middleweight limit, with both fighters allowing a 10-pound rehydration after the weigh-in. Eubank Sr thinks the restrictions could endanger his son’s life and saw him threaten to take his son out of combat last month.
Eddie Hearn has hit back at Chris Eubank Sr (R) after calling for a boycott of his sons’ fight
Senior Concerned About Son Fighting Conor Benn Under 160lb Middleweight Limit
But Hearn has not kindly welcomed Eubank Sr’s latest outburst – he continued to insist that he was aware of the fight and the circumstances all along.
“I think he’s very stubborn,” he said iFL TV. “He made some comments about the weight a few weeks ago.
“Remember, Eubank Sr was aware of this fight. He knew about the weight and Chris Jr signed up for the fight. There were no major concerns then.
“At the same time, he’s worried about the weight, and Junior is out there eating KFC, cookies, pies, etc. The people who make up the ground who are involved in the camp. Ronnie Davis, the British Boxing Board of Control, they will weigh him, they are all happy with the numbers.
“So I don’t really see the concern. The greater danger, frankly, lies with Conor Benn. This is a 147lb, which comes to 157lb which rehydrates to 167lb. He is hugely at a disadvantage, but there has to be a middle ground.
Hearn told Senior to allow Junior to focus on his fight – saying he ‘knows what he’s signed up for’
“If there is such a fight, there has to be a fair middle ground. I truly believe that both sides have found that ground. I think that he [Eubank Jr] weighed 159 pounds before his last fight. So he’s actually lost two pounds and bitten a few pounds off the weight he just put on.”
Eubank Jr has been seen eating burgers, steaks, cakes and buckets of KFC to mock fears he won’t gain weight this Friday – but Senior persisted in his calls for the fight to be dropped when he messaged a boxing youtube channel.
“Boycott the fight,” he told The Fight is Right.
“You know what three pounds under the middleweight limit at 33 can do.
“That’s how brain damage happens.”
Hearn continued his interview with iFL, telling Eubank Sr to let his son focus on the fight and allow his advisers to make his preparations.
Eubank Jr was seen eating a KFC bucket at the O2 Arena watching YouTuber turned boxer KSI allay fears of his weight
Chris Eubank Jr has 36 hours to rehydrate from the weigh-in. Senior has his opinion, of course, and he’s stubborn too. Once he has an idea, he’ll be working on it all week, and then he’ll probably show up at the O2.
‘He doesn’t fight. Chris Eubank Jr fights. He has people who promote him, advise him and represent him to do that work. Junior knows the game. He knew what he was signing for.
Junior says he’ll make the weight easy and ‘knock him out when I want to.’ You have to hit the weight first, but he looks a bit silly if he doesn’t. We’ll see what happens,’
Last month, Eubank Sr shocked boxing fans by insisting that he would not let his son enter the match – he said he would not risk losing another child after his son Sebastian’s death last year.
Eubank Sr threatened to take Junior out of the fray, saying he would ‘not lose another son’ after Sebastian Eubank’s death last year
“If they won’t listen to me, they’ll have to listen to my counselor to the king. That fight is off.’
“If he doesn’t follow the advice, I’ll have to stand firm… have you ever heard of Russian roulette?” according to Eubank. “If you run that barrel, that’s what he does and I can’t stop him.
‘I gave him my direction. If he doesn’t want to follow it, he gets dragged along. But he’ll do what’s right for him… he drops 1oz below 160lbs, which can’t happen on my watch.’
Eubank Snr, whose son Sebastian died last year at the age of 29, added: ‘This is modern ‘gladiates’, this is not a game for the public. We must be strict or else lives will be endangered and my son’s life will not.
Eubank Jr (L) is seen as the favorite to beat Benn (R) at the O2 Arena on Saturday
‘I’ve already lost one. It can’t happen again… if you have a child and someone is really trying to take that child away from you, and do something wrong to that child, you as a father wouldn’t allow that. That’s all I do.’
“If your father won’t protect my son, if they won’t let me protect my son, you protect him,” he told Benn. “Why should I be in his corner, in a fight where he comes in, in a situation where he could lose his life.
“I gave my son his instructions and he chose to follow a different (path)…but he cannot ignore his father. Because his father speaks wisely and who will support me? Public.
“If they understand: I lost a son, Michael Watson happened, Gerald McClellan happened, Nick Blackwell happened, and the many warriors who have fallen or been disabled because of competition in the ring,” he said.
“You can’t lose weight, especially against a fighter the size of Mr. King, Conor Benn. This is not a joke.’