If Eddie Hearn was already upset with boxing manager Keith Connolly in the past, then it seems that the departure of longtime Matchroom Boxing fighter Conor Benn was the final straw in their working relationship.
At least for now.
“I’m not going to fall out with Keith, but he’s just not someone that I really want to work with, to be honest with you,” Hearn said Monday on "The Ariel Helwani Show." “I would never rule it out, Ariel, because I just think I can never do that. But if you ask me, do I want to work with him again? No. Do DAZN want to work with him again? No. And they won't even mind me saying it.
“I mean, that's the reality of the situation. But, you know, each to their own. I'm not going to sit here and call him out. He's got a job to do. They're just disappointed.”
Connolly did not immediately respond to an email from BoxingScene seeking his response.
Among the fighters managed by Connolly whom Matchroom promoted in recent years were Benn, former super middleweight title challenger Edgar Berlanga and current junior welterweight titleholder Richardson Hitchins.
Last June, after Hitchins defeated George Kambosos Jnr on a Matchroom card, the fighter publicly declared himself a free agent, drawing Hearn’s ire.
“Richardson is a good kid. He’s just got some snakes around him, and those snakes will make you feel like they’re your guy,” Hearn told IFL at the time. “But the reality is, they’re bloodsuckers. Certain individuals take a bigger percentage or the same percentage as the promoter who is bankrolling you and paying for your entire path in the sport and making the investment.
“Managers have zero risk. They just let the promoter do all the work. They negotiate the deal. By the way, a good manager is good for your career. … I just understand the game, so it doesn’t infuriate me. I just go, ‘You’re a dog, you’ll get what’s fucking coming to you.’ That’s all. That’s boxing.”
Of course, a manager’s job includes looking out first and foremost for the interests of their fighter – which is why the Ali Act separates the roles of promoters and managers in the United States.
But Hearn has spoken repeatedly about the idea of loyalty from fighters given the investments from, and sacrifices made by, a promoter. Benn brought Connolly on in late 2024, after Hearn had stood by the fighter following his positive test for a performance-enhancing drug that led to the cancellation of his initial date with Chris Eubank Jnr and a long legal battle in the United Kingdom.
“You know, in this situation, Keith doesn’t really understand what happened and what we did,” Hearn told Helwani on Monday. “He’s only just popped up. Popped up when we were filling stadiums and just took a few quid. You know, he weren't mopping up the tears. You know, he weren’t raising the spirits. He weren’t putting his hand in his pocket and bailing people out. And sitting on the front line, just taking grenade after grenade after grenade after grenade. And ... just shielding the kid.
“So he just turned up with his sunglasses on and said, ‘Yeah, baby, I'm Keithie, baby, I'll show you the money.’ Which is not a difficult job, in my opinion. But because he never went through it, it’s difficult to have those conversations with him. There’s a lot of people from [Benn’s] team that have reached out to me, really disappointed in what he’s done. But it’s life. I'll always remember it. But I can't tell you I’m waking up every morning, like, moping around. It's just disappointing. That's all. But, you know, to stick up for Keith a little bit in this, he doesn't really know the depths that I went to.”
Hearn predicted that Hitchins and Berlanga could also wind up signing with Zuffa.
Hitchins, 20-0 (8 KOs), hasn’t defended his IBF 140lbs belt since the Kambosos win. He was supposed to fight Oscar Duarte on the pay-per-view undercard of Mario Barrios vs. Ryan Garcia but pulled out after vomiting multiple times the day of the bout. Hitchins has since been ordered to defend against mandatory contender Lindolfo Delgado.
Berlanga, 23-2 (18 KOs), was last seen getting stopped in five rounds by Hamzah Sheeraz last July. His last bout with Matchroom was four months before then, a quick win over Jonathan Gonzalez-Ortiz.
Two of Connolly’s other notable clients are junior lightweight champion Alycia Baumgardner (who is signed with Most Valuable Promotions), and former two-division champion Teofimo Lopez Jnr (Top Rank).
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
