Trying to make Chris Eubank vs Conor Benn happen was like coming into a car crash, they hate each other, says Ben Shalom
BOXING promoter Ben Shalom has likened making Chris Eubank Jr’s fight against Conor Benn to a car crash.
The feuding pair finally agreed to fight last month after years of bickering.
Eubank Jr and Benn will collide on April 26 at Tottenham’s 62,000-seater stadium.
And it will finally lay to rest the ghosts of their failed clash in October 2022.
The scrap was axed when Benn failed two Voluntary Anti-Doping Association Tests.
The unbeaten welterweight contender then had the fight of his life to try and prove his innocence and get his career back on track.
Benn, 28, was later charged by UK Anti-Doping and a bitter dispute with the British Boxing Board of Control ensued after the fighter was stripped of his license.
It saw him take his career to America, where he had two routine wins up at super-welterweight against Rodolfo Orozco and Peter Dobson.
Eubank, 35, went on to have a double header with Liam Smith, 36, losing the first by KO before winning the rematch by stoppage.
He then beat Kamil Szeremeta in his last bout in October – with Benn ringside in Saudi Arabia.
Following his seventh-round stoppage of Szeremeta, 35, he faced off with Benn in the ring to fuel speculation their bitter bout was back on.
And a month later, UKAD released a statement to confirm Benn’s ban had been lifted – clearing him to fight on home soil again.
Boxxer founder and fight promoter Shalom has now lifted the lid on the difficulty of setting up Eubank Jr’s fight against Benn.
Speaking to Betfred, he likened negotiations to a car crash and admits Turki Al-Sheikh was the driving force behind the bout.
Shalom said: “The thing about Chris Eubank Jr. vs Conor Benn is that it’s bigger than boxing, and there’s very few events that are, so of course getting it over the line was tricky.
“We weren’t involved in the first scheduled fight with the chaos surrounding the drug testing and failed drugs tests, so we came into an absolute car crash, which involved two fighters that absolutely hate each other.
“They don’t even want to talk to each other or give anything, but it was the fight to make.
“Both fighters were talking about doing other fights and all this, but we always knew that this was the fight to make. It was hard, everything was an argument.
“For me, Chris Eubank Jr. is far and away the A side and bigger name and of course I’m going to say that, but I think his resume proves that and the fights he’s been in before prove that, but we were dealing with a tricky character and another promoter in Matchroom.
“It was almost like full circle, I have to be honest, because when I came into the sport, probably Matchroom at the time, even though that’s changed now with Frank Warren, were the leaders and they were trying to make our life very, very difficult, so to come full circle and be at the negotiating table for Eubank Jr. vs Benn is a crazy story and boxing’s full of crazy stories.
“We finally got it over the line with the help of His Excellency (Turki Al-Sheikh) because he was able to take ego out of the window and Conor didn’t have to see how much Chris was earning, which I think was half the battle.
“The interest in it is huge, the history is huge and it’s definitely one that will go down in the history books and be remembered for a very long time, so I’m delighted to be involved in what I believe will be the biggest show in British boxing, if not boxing, this year.”