Eddie Hearn has broken cover for the first time since his former charge Conor Benn lost to Ryan Garcia.
Hearn had been by Benn’s side since the moment he turned professional, and is responsible for helping to him to become one of the most talked-about British boxers in the sport.
He matched him perfectly on the way to a pair of huge fights with Chris Eubank Jr, both of which earned him massive paydays. Even before that, the Matchroom chief famously stood by Benn during his wilderness years following a failed drug test ahead of the first proposed fight with Eubank.
However, at the start of this year, Benn announced he was leaving Hearn and taking a huge offer from Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing to go and fight with them.
His first contest was a points win over Regis Prograis in April, and the second was the fight with Garcia, which he lost by KO inside four minutes.
Speaking to iFL TV, Hearn revealed how he would have matched Benn differently.
“I would have put him in with Lewis Crocker or I would have put him in with Rolly Romero at The O2. The difference is, it would have been less money.”
Romero fought Garcia himself in May last year and won by unanimous decision. It seems unlikely Benn would fight him now, with many wondering if he instead goes back up to 160lbs for a third and deciding fight with Eubank, given how hard he found it to cut weight and make the 147lbs limit for the contest with Garcia.
