Speaking to iFL TV, Eddie Hearn fired back at claims made by Keith Connolly regarding discussions surrounding Conor Benn’s future and a potential deal.
Connolly had alleged that during the Teofimo Lopez vs. Shakur Stevenson match week, Hearn, Benn, and Connolly discussed a possible arrangement. According to Connolly, Hearn was offered matching rights to an initial proposal and even a role within Benn’s team moving forward.
Hearn immediately dismissed those claims. “No. All lies. Well, mostly lies,” he said.
Addressing reports about a lunch meeting with Connolly, Hearn acknowledged that the meeting did happen but insisted it had nothing to do with the later negotiations being discussed.
“We had a lunch, me and Keith,” Hearn explained. “This is well before any Zuffa conversation. We just had a lunch that week to talk about a potential matchup. There were no numbers mentioned, no talk of Zuffa, nothing at all. At the time they were already talking to other people, because I’ve since found that out.”
Hearn then turned his attention to the matching-rights claim, accusing Benn’s side of fabricating a deal entirely.
“What they did was they fabricated a deal, of which there will be legal action incoming, of a one-match deal for $15 million with no other options, no other conversations at all,” Hearn said. “And funnily enough, straight after that match, there was another one announced. So we’ll get to the bottom of that. That’s going to be a lot of fun.”
When asked whether he had been offered a position as part of Benn’s team, Hearn clarified that Benn himself never approached him directly. Instead, he claimed the offer came through a lawyer via email.
“He said, ‘What we’d like to do as well, we would like to give me $250,000 as like a thank you, but in turn not to say anything negative about Conor Benn or the team,” Hearn recalled from the email.
The Matchroom promoter said he rejected the idea immediately and in blunt fashion.
“I’ve got a better idea. Go and stick it up your f**king a*s,” Hearn said. “Because all you’re concerned about is what I’m going to say about you. You want to give me bait money to keep my mouth shut? F**k off.”
Hearn added that the wording in the email made the intention even more obvious.
“It actually said in the email something along the lines of to not say anything negative about Conor or the team,” he said. “F*** off.”
Asked whether a larger offer would have changed his position, Hearn insisted the answer would still have been no.
“You give me f***ing 25 million, I’d still tell you to stick it up your a*s because that’s how I felt about the situation,” he said.
Hearn also took direct aim at the lawyer involved in the negotiations, unleashing another scathing response.
“That guy, he’s the sliveriest little f**king snake, you know,” Hearn said. “You couldn’t get underneath his belly. He’s that f**king low, that geezer.”
Closing out the topic, Hearn accused Benn’s camp of dishonesty throughout the process.
He said, “They know what they did. They know the whole thing was fabricated. They’re having meetings with me. They’re already talking to the other lot. Slags. Absolute slags. It’s the truth. That’s what they are.”
