Eddie Hearn has offered a counter to Chris Eubank Jr, after the boxer accepted the promoter’s £1m bet over April’s fight with Conor Benn.
Ahead of Eubank Jr vs Benn, which is scheduled for 26 April at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Benn’s promoter Hearn bet his counterpart Ben Shalom £1m over the result of the bout.
Shalom dismissed the bet, before his fighter Eubank Jr accepted it this week. “Come on, Eddie,” Eubank Jr said in a video on social media. “£1m, eh? Okay, let’s find out if you’re a man of your word or just a lying hype job.
“I formally accept your £1m bet, and the £1m will be our own personal money – not company money or purse money, just a straight-up bet between me and you. The money will go into escrow, and the winner takes all. And now I look forward to watching you try to weasel your way out of this bet, like the rodent I know you are. Good day.”
Now, however, Hearn has responded, saying he is not allowed to bet on the fight – while offering a charity-related alternative.
“Very clever, I think it’s easy to trick the public,” Hearn told The Ring, referring to Eubank Jr’s video. “I mean, just to kind of make sure the public are aware: following our little laugh and joke with Ben Shalom about the £1m, Ben Shalom stated – I mean, it was a good way to get out of the bet, but it was true – that promoters can’t bet.
“So much so, that the British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) actually recently sent an email, which I’ll show you now. I’ll read it out, because I just want to put Eubank to bed, because he’s one for the views. This is from the BBBofC, regarding regulation 38.”
Hearn proceeded to read the regulation in question, which reportedly forbids licence holders from “directly or indirectly” betting or enabling bets on the “result, progress, conduct or any other outcome” of a fight “in which the member is participating or proposing to participate in any capacity”, or “on which the member has any influence – direct or indirect”.
“That is the reason Eubank’s done a video, to get some views and some noise,” Hearn continued, “because he knows I can’t bet on the fight. And he knows that if I did, I would receive a fine like him, of £100,000.
“So, maybe we could do something for charity. But it was good. Listen, it did what he’s all about: views and clout. He’s clout-chasing. I would love to have a bet with him, but I’d also get better odds [elsewhere]; I think Conor is 6/5, so I wouldn’t take even money from him.”
Eubank Jr, 35, and Benn, 28, are due to clash two-and-a-half years after they were initially due to fight each other. In October 2022, their contest collapsed on short notice, when it was revealed that Benn had failed two drug tests.
Benn was subsequently stripped of his British boxing licence and competed in the US twice, before he was cleared to fight on home soil in late 2024.
His fight with Eubank Jr will be his first in Britain in three years, and it will take place more than 30 years after their fathers last fought. In 1990, Chris Eubank Sr beat Nigel Benn, before the rivals fought to a draw in 1993.
