In one of the most heated live interviews of all time, Simon Jordan put Eddie Hearn on blast over Conor Benn’s failed drug tests.
Back in October, The Daily Mail revealed that ‘The Destroyer’ had been caught with illegal substances in his system prior to his scheduled blockbuster with Chris Eubank Jr. However, despite the findings, Eddie Hearn attempted to initially keep the news quiet before trying to push the fight ahead regardless, claiming his team were ‘considering our options’.
Consequently, the promoter received huge criticism from the likes of talkSPORT’s Jordan, who branded Hearn a ‘coward’. This angered the boxing man, who claimed he’d like to ‘slap’ the radio host’, making for all the ingredients of a classic collision.
Speaking on the White & Jordan show, Hearn opened by claiming: “I don’t like what Simon said [about his response to the Benn incident].”
His adversary then hit back, with: “He [Hearn] was a coward, and he should get over himself and be a big boy. He should have done better than a press conference in which he said, ‘I am not going to say anything.
“You are quite smooth and manipulative, and you could have pulled that fight [between Benn and Eubank Jr]. Are you telling me you wouldn’t have been able to drop him as a fighter if he brought the contract into disrepute?”
Hearn then utilised the arguably flawed boxing model to defend his actions
He retorted: “This is where you fail to understand. Under the contract, the board [British Boxing Board of Control] govern the sport.
“Contractually, in the incidence of this, the fight cannot proceed if the board don’t approve – no matter what happens in private testing.
“I had the option, and so did Kalle [Sauerland], to proceed with the fight. I do regret [saying we were] considering our options because I think the Board made the right decision. This left me a bit shell-shocked.”
Eddie Hearn and Simon Jordan rage at one another
The Matchroom man continued: “I think I made mistakes. During this process, everything we did was done with care and thought. Nobody particularly handled the situation well, but I will say when these tests come through, we had conversations with our governing body.
‘The conversations went something like this, “Robert, I know you don’t acknowledge VADA, we have been here before, but basically, what are you going to do?” And five weeks later, they pulled the fight.”
As it stands, Benn, who is yet to be cleared, has refused to cooperate with the British Boxing Board of Control, which remains the only organisation that can clear him to fight in the UK. Despite possessing a 270-page document which allegedly proves his innocence, he’s refusing to make the findings public.
This has created concern among fans. But regardless, Hearn is trying to secure his man a big fight in the Middle East.
He said: “Now people say about my mistake of backing Conor Benn, I say this: I believe Conor Benn. It would have been easy for me to cast him aside, but I 100% believe him. He will fight in June.”
Jordan responded: “You are morally wrong to do that and are only doing it because it benefits you.
“You need to get over your victim’s complex, and you should be sanctioned by the BBBofC,’ Jordan said. ‘You tried to get this fight on despite knowing Benn had failed a drugs test.”
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Featured Image Credit: Talk Sport