Promoter Eddie Hearn has been shocked by the reaction on social media to the news that Conor Benn is no longer a Matchroom fighter.
Benn, who turned professional with Hearn in 2016, has signed with Zuffa Boxing.
“I’d known about it for a few days so it was less of a surprise for me than it was some people, but the reaction’s been unbelievable,” Hearn told BoxingScene. “I’ve never felt so popular and I want to thank everyone for the love.
“[Benn leaving is] disappointing. I don’t know what else to say. I’m not going to stand here and out Conor Benn and start slagging off Conor Benn. It is what it is. I probably misjudged him as a person, but he’s got to do what he feels is right for himself.”
Benn leaves at the WBC’s No. 1 welterweight and he issued a statement thanking Hearn for his efforts over the years.
Asked whether many promoters would have stood by Benn during the two years of chaos that followed Benn’s positive drug tests ahead of his first scheduled bout with Chris Eubank, Hearn added: “No one would have. Someone said about the UFC and Tom Aspinall and now they’ve just humiliated him [after being side-lined by an eye gouge] and kind of turned their back on him, I don’t do that. I don’t do that to my fighters and Conor Benn will always be the greatest testament to my character in that respect. I believed him, so I had to stand on what I felt was right and obviously what’s happened makes you question everything, it makes you question life a little bit. I’ve always said, don’t think what happens in boxing makes you think what normal people, or kind people or nice people do, it’s just a different world. It is what it is, and we move on.”
Hearn smiled when he was asked whether he regretted standing up for Benn.
“You always have to do what you feel is right at the time,” he said. “I believed Conor Benn at that time and I back my fighters and I stand by their side if I believe it’s right. But it was the hardest moment of my career, by a mile [going through the Benn PED case]. I guess there will always be part of me that thinks, was it worth taking a piece of my soul for that. But you have to do what you think is right at the time… This was a bit of an extreme situation and as I’ve said, maybe it was my fault. I misjudged that loyalty. I just felt that he would never do that to us because of what we did. But I was wrong.”
Hearn knew Benn was out of contract, he just never envisaged Benn going elsewhere, particularly after the journey they’d been on.
“Everybody’s [signed] on paper but his contract come up, we never got it done, I guess we paid the price but in other circumstances with different people it would never have been an issue.”
Hearn did not know if Benn would stay with trainer Tony Sims, a long-time Hearn ally who trains his fighters, Benn included, out of the Matchroom gym.
“I don’t know, someone said to me Tony Sims, Nigel Benn, no-one’s reposted anything,” said Hearn. “But these are different kind of people. Tony and Nigel are very different to Conor. They’re solid people and I love those guys.”
