Conor Benn continues to insist that he wants to keep his friendship with Eddie Hearn alive, despite his shock switch from the latter’s promotional company to a rival last month.
February brought the surprising news that Benn was leaving Matchroom to join Zuffa Boxing, a new promotion headed up by UFC president Dana White, who has aimed various criticisms at Hearn in recent months.
Hearn, 46, has publicly admitted his hurt at Benn’s actions, playing coy over the possibility of working with the 29-year-old welterweight again in the future.
However, Benn is adamant that he wants to get back on good terms with Hearn, as he told former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville on The Overlap.
“It’s more of an ego thing,” Benn said. “Of course they understand, I know Eddie. I didn’t tell Eddie [about the Zuffa deal in advance but] we spoke, I sent him a nice, long message. ‘Let’s catch up when the dust has settled, once this has all been sorted out.’
“I didn’t know the outcome then – whether it would be Matchroom or not. We’ll speak when this is done, I want to speak to him. Outside of business, we’re friends.
“This is so public, it can hurt people’s egos. That’s it [...] One-fight deal, after that I’m a free agent. I could do my own, I could go to Matchroom, stay with Zuffa. It’s a short-sighted approach, the big noise was worth the one-fight deal.
“Will they [come back to me]? I know [broadcaster] Dazn probably will, but will I? I had nothing bad to say.”
Benn also opened up on the financial side of the Zuffa deal, claiming the money offered by the new promotion was “not even close” to what he had made and could make with Matchroom.
“It’s drastic,” said Benn. “It’s money where you go, ‘If you’re a couple million out, yeah, alright, we’ll sort something out.’ But it’s not that.
“It is not even close. Until you’re in that position, you won’t know; any fight can be the last fight. I promised myself I’d never feel the way I felt again.
“It all fell on me, nobody paid my legal bills, he didn’t lend me a cent. I paid the legal bills myself. Nobody called up to see if I had food on the table, I had to do that myself. Nobody will defend you when you’re done and gone. That three years taught me what I know now.”
Benn’s next fight will take place on the Tyson Fury vs Arslanbek Makhmudov undercard on 11 April, in a surprising move. He will box American veteran Regis Prograis at a 150lb catchweight, with the event streaming live on Netflix – rather than Paramount+, which is Zuffa’s main broadcaster.
The fight sees Prograis move up from 147lb, while Benn drops down from 160lb, where he traded wins with bitter rival Chris Eubank Jr in 2025. Eubank Jr outpointed Benn in April, before Benn reversed the result after dropping his fellow Briton in their November rematch.
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