Immediately following today’s opening press conference for the April 26 main event between Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn, which ended in chaos after Eubank slapped Benn with an egg in hand, Benn’s promoter Eddie Hearn gave his reaction to what transpired on stage.
“Maybe,” Hearn said regarding whether they’ll still go through with Thursday’s presser after what transpired today. “We have to see, the game has changed now. When you’re talking about Conor, and particularly Nigel, you’re not talking about people that will sleep on it and wake up and be really happy.
“Like, he’s been whacked around the face with an objected in his eye and they ain’t very happy about it. So we just got to make sure if we go ahead with the presser on Thursday that there are precautions in place because if Conor and Nigel see Eubank, it’s on.
“At the time I thought it was a glass, if I’m honest. It shattered everywhere. I wasn’t happy because, you’ve got to understand, everything that Eubank does is premeditated…He’s got someone to buy an egg, give it to him, and he’s gone up on the stage with an egg sat in his pocket. Everybody on the team knows what he’s about to do, and he’s hit him around the face with an egg.
“Listen, I’ve seen worse but just understand when you do that everything changes, that’s all. The game’s the game and now just wish we had a bigger stadium…I thought it was a bitch move, I really did.”
As annoyed as Hearn was regarding the move from Eubank, he didn’t deny that it might help boost the sales of an already big event in the UK. But Hearn then turned his attention to Eubank’s promoter Ben Shalom, who he believes was complicit with Eubank regarding the slap.
“I just looked at him and thought ‘you know about this,’ said Hearn. “I just told him ‘I believe you knew about it’ and he said ‘I swear I didn’t know anything about it. So I don’t necessarily believe him but it is what it is.”