Ben Shalom has provided an update on the potential showdown between Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn – as well as an alternative fight between Eubank Jnr and Erislandy Lara.
A contest between Eubank Jnr and Benn has seemed likely since they signed to face each other back in 2022, before its cancellation days in advance after Benn tested positive for the banned substance clomifene.
Talks intensified after the rivals came face to face following Eubank Jnr’s past bout, the victory in Riyadh over Kamil Szeremeta.
Shalom, Eubank Jnr’s promoter, and Eddie Hearn, who promotes Benn, met at the annual WBC convention in Hamburg, Germany.
“It was mainly about the Eubank-Benn fight,” Shalom told BoxingScene. “We talked about other things, but I think it’s pretty normal. We need to – he represents Conor [Benn], we represent Chris [Eubank Jnr], and we just talked about that.”
Shalom’s and Hearn’s relationship has seemed increasingly tense, and included disagreements regarding the purse bids for bouts between Adam Azim and Dalton Smith, and Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke.
When Shalom was asked how their relationship is more recently, he responded: “I think it’s good.
“I mean, to be honest, I never really had any relationship. Obviously, there’s the back and forth, and there’s the rubbish, and there’s the crap on interviews, but the reality is, you don’t know the person – we’d not met.
“Has he tried to make it or has he made it difficult for us? Of course he has, but sometimes you get to a point where you can’t be ignored anymore, and there are big fights to be made, but it was never anything personal. Are we best friends? No. Can we work together? Yes. And is there anything between us? Absolutely not.”
Shalom then provided an update on how discussions are going for Eubank-Benn, and revealed that there is a date in March penciled in for Eubank to challenge the WBA middleweight champion Lara should talks break down.
“There’s a lot of gameplay, and there’s a lot of things going back and forth,” said Shalom. “It is what it is. I think it is the right fight for both of them.
“Whether it happens will depend on each side being sensible, I’m hopeful. I think there’s some experienced heads on both sides and so, yeah, I’d like to see the fight. If not, we’d like to see the Lara fight for Eubank Jnr, so I think we’ll see how it works out in the next week or so.
“As a promoter, the Eubank-Benn fight is enormous. There are not many events that get out of boxing, get out of the sport, get into every area of life really. It’s that big in Britain. Of course I’d like to make it, but at the same time, every fighter’s dream is to fight for a world title and when you’ve earned as much money as Chris has, you’re not as desperate for massive nights; massive paydays; sometimes it becomes more about legacy.
“And so [the Lara fight] – a very attractive option to him, at the end of the day we’ll do whatever he wants us to do. But he is the boss, we’ll make sure that we deliver whatever he wants.”
Shalom also revealed that there have been talks with Riyadh Season over Eubank Jnr-Benn, but all parties are in agreement that the bout must take place in the UK.
A potential obstacle is that both fighters are also in contention for world-title fights they are confident of winning. Eubank is hopeful of beating Lara, and Benn is interested in challenging the WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios.
“Conor’s been out of the ring for a long time,” said Shalom. “But Barrios isn’t the best world champion that we’ve seen – but I don’t think [Benn] is at that level yet or has been at that level.
“Chris, I know they’re desperate for him not to take the Lara fight, but I think Chris beats Lara and I think we’ve been looking at that Lara fight for a long time, and hopefully it can get close.”
Read the full article here
