If the all-British clash between Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn wasn’t already highly anticipated enough, their antics over this week have increased the anticipation ten-fold.
Earlier this week, Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr took part in a press conference ahead of their Middleweight fight from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 26.
Following the press conference, the two faced off in an extremely intense staredown, which then turned violent when Eubank Jr smashed an egg on the side of Benn’s head.
Absolute chaos erupted as ‘The Destroyer’ attempted to get to the middleweight champion but he was being held back by several security members.
Eddie Hall bets Ben Shalom £1million on the Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn fight
Despite the chaos that ensued, a scheduled press conference this past Thursday went ahead, although there were safety concerns heading into it.
Plenty more security members were in place for the second press conference and as he stepped onto the stage, Eubank Jr was searched with an ‘egg detector’.
The 35-year-old middleweight champion will be hopeful that a recent simulation of the fight, which saw Eubank Jr dominate Benn whilst scoring two knockdowns, plays out correctly, however, Eddie Hearn has other beliefs.
Of course, ‘The Destroyer’ Benn is part of Hearn’s stable of fighters at Matchroom and the promoter is supremely confident that his fighter will pick up the win, so much so that he has offered rival promoter, Ben Shalom a £1million bet.
“We’re very good friends now,” Shalom said during an interview with iFL TV.
“Yeah, we’re great friends. Whatever you want, more if you want,” Hearn replied when the interviewer suggested a £100k bet.
“Listen, I know that Eddie knows that he’s just given me £100k,” Shalom replied.
“We can have a bigger bet we can have £1million,” Hearn replied.
“You wanna do £1million on Conor Benn?” Shalom questioned.
“We can have £1million in escrow tomorrow morning. I’m telling you now, £1million in escrow tomorrow morning,” Hearn offered.
Conor Benn makes Ben Shalom flinch as he pretends to hit him
As they do in boxing, the rival promoters have gotten extremely involved in the lead up to this fight.
During their face off on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium pitch on Thursday, Benn pretended to go for Shalom after comments he has made during the lead-up.
Benn’s camaraderie evoked a flinch out of Shalom which went viral online.
“Ben and Conor Benn, that’s the fight. I don’t know if you saw the little shimmy outside, because if someone’s recorded that, I want to see it in slo-mo because I s— myself, let alone him, him bum—- is still on the halfway line,” Hearn joked.
“Not with Conor Benn maybe someone bigger than Conor but not with Conor,” the BOXXER promoter replied.