It is one of the fiercest rivalries in British boxing, and it’s not centered around the fighters themselves. Daily Mail Sport had a conversation with Chris Eubank Jr and Eddie Hearn to uncover the reasons behind their mutual aversion to sharing the same space.

Eubank reiterated his bold assertion that Hearn is a ‘scumbag,’ alleging that the promoter and his Matchroom team attempted to ‘sabotage’ him in his initial match with Conor Benn. 

In an exclusive chat following their recent press conference, the middleweight boxer unleashed a string of outrageous claims—ranging from manipulated weigh-ins and rehydration strategies to an accusation that his ambulance was intentionally obstructed from departing Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as he remained inside with an oxygen mask.

‘You cannot lie about me and my company stopping an ambulance,’ he said, clearly frustrated. ‘It’s the most bizarre thing. There’s a log from the paramedics that documents what occurred, minute by minute.’

The interviews provided a glimpse into a deep-seated personal animosity that has been brewing for years. This rivalry extends beyond mere boxing contracts, drug testing scandals, or press conference decorum—it touches on themes of pride, ego, and a clash of two men who represent differing visions for the sport.

And Eubank made that clear when he sat down with us. Leaning forward, voice rising, he doubled down on his description of Hearn as a ‘scumbag,’ launching into an extraordinary attack on the promoter and accusing Matchroom of doing everything possible to ‘destroy’ him in the build-up to the first Conor Benn fight.

During the press conference Eubank said: ‘They did everything they could to try to destroy me in this last fight; contract breaches, fines, rehydration clauses, they sabotaged the weigh-in, [there was] biased commentary and refereeing, the list goes on.

‘After the fight, due to severe dehydration, I’m put in an ambulance and I have to go to hospital. I was so dehydrated, one of the toenails on my big toe fell off. I’m in the ambulance and these scumbags blocked that ambulance from leaving the stadium for 20 minutes.

‘We were locked in for 20 minutes, I’m lying there in a gurney with an oxygen mask on, the car cannot move because they won’t open the gates to let us leave. If this was a serious injury I’d sustained… that 20 minutes could have been the difference between life and death. While this was happening, Eddie Hearn and Conor Benn were talking to the media, lying about me having a broken jaw.’

Eubank explained how he felt the story was part of a wider pattern during our exclusive interview: ‘When you’re dealing with dogs, when you’re dealing with scumbags, crooks, whatever you want to call these people, you know they will do anything they can to try and break you, to try and derail you, to try and sabotage whether it’s against the rules, whether it’s against just morals of being a human being, they will do it.

‘They did it to me, and I still went in there and did what I needed to do to win, and I’m expecting them to do the same thing this time around. But this time, obviously we are much more prepared. We saw what they were capable of. We’ve learned from that, and we will be avoiding all their traps and setups as much as possible.’

The language was incendiary, but hardly surprising given what had unfolded on stage between the pair. The pre-fight press conference for Eubank Jr vs Benn II at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium had already been an ill-tempered affair. As Hearn attempted to pay tribute to Ricky Hatton, who died last month, Eubank cut across him.

‘Just firstly, 30 seconds on Ricky Hatton,’ Hearn began. ‘Come on Eddie, there’s no 30 seconds. You know the drill,’ Eubank barked.

What followed was a public slanging match. ‘All I was going to do was say a few words about Ricky Hatton,’ Hearn shot back, before branding Eubank an ‘a**hole.’ Eubank in turn bellowed: ‘I’m not going to sit here and listen to anything you say. I don’t want to hear any of your words. Let’s move on with the press conference, we know the drill.’

The reaction was immediate and furious. For some, it was a low point: Hatton, a British boxing icon, had been mourned across the sport, his battles inside and outside the ring revered. But Eubank insists his interruption was no slight on Hatton’s memory. Instead, it was a ‘disgusting’ attempt at stealing the spotlight by Hearn.

‘Yeah, that was pretty disgusting of Eddie Hearn to do what he did,’ he told Daily Mail Sport. ‘There had already been a tribute to the legend, the icon that was Ricky Hatton. That tribute happened at the beginning of the press conference. I was in my stride. He knew that as soon as he talks, I’m going to shut it down, so he decided to, for some random reason, start trying to talk about Ricky Hatton in the middle of the press conference.

‘He knew that I was going to interrupt him before he said anything, which I did. I didn’t hear that he was saying. He was trying to talk about Ricky. I was just immediately shutting him down regardless of what he was saying. So he’s using Ricky Hatton’s passing to try and talk in a press conference – it’s disgusting, but that’s the type of people you’re dealing with, true scumbags.

‘Again, Ricky Hatton was a legend, inspired a generation, and I know how hard it is to lose a loved one. So again, my thoughts and prayers are with his family. There was no disrespect, there was no malice. I’m not that type of human being. It’s just unfortunate that Eddie Hearn tried to do what he did to make me look bad.’

Hearn was visibly angered and gave Daily Mail Sport his full intended remarks after the press conference, stressing that his tribute was heartfelt, not opportunistic. ‘It’s quite a toxic business and in a toxic business for nobody to have ever said a bad word about Ricky Hatton just shows you what kind of an individual he was,’ Hearn said.

‘He was the last of a rare breed of boxers and athletes who built their popularity without social media. Not with a content team that will follow him around, just a pure soul with a clean heart that a city fell in love with and then a country fell in love with. He gave all his time to anyone, doesn’t matter if it was a CEO of a broadcast company or guy trying to clean up around here. To see a guy that funny, full of life and good around people, that good a role model with that good a heart, not being able to get rid of his demons is so, so sad.’

On the wider accusations levelled at him, Hearn was equally blunt. ‘I thought it was bizarre,’ he said. ‘You cannot lie about me and my company stopping an ambulance. It’s the most bizarre thing. There’s a log from the paramedics that tells you exactly what happens minute by minute. And the stuff about Robert Smith [the secretary of the British Boxing Board of Control] was absolutely wild.

‘He called him a scumbag and a toad. He says we made him and Conor Benn wear gloves that weren’t allowed. Total rubbish. He missed weight, was over an hour late, and instead of sweating it off was scrolling Instagram. He thought he’d make it and missed it by 0.01 of a pound. It’s tiring. Honestly, he’s just arrogant. I was disappointed to hear that he lost half a toenail. That was tragic.’

The bitterness is hardly confined to weigh-ins and press conferences. The feud between Eubank Jr and Hearn has simmered for years, rooted in style, ego, and business. 

Hearn once promoted Eubank Jr, but the fighter’s preference for self-promotion and independence clashed with Matchroom’s model. The arrival of Conor Benn, son of Nigel Benn, reignited an old grudge that had defined British boxing in the 1990s.

That legacy looms large. Chris Eubank Sr. and Nigel Benn’s two savage encounters in 1990 and 1993 remain among the most celebrated and brutal contests in British boxing history. 

Their sons were kids then, but both grew up under the weight of expectation that they too would one day share a ring. By the time Benn and Eubank Jr emerged as top-level fighters in the 2010s, the script seemed written. A modern-day redux of the fathers’ rivalry was inevitable, and broadcasters knew it would be box office gold.

But what should have been a straightforward passing of the torch was complicated by Eubank Jr’s refusal to play by promoter rules. He and his father often insisted on their own terms: self-managed, fiercely protective of image rights, resistant to long-term contracts. 

Hearn, who had turned Anthony Joshua into a household name and delivered blockbuster stadium shows with the likes of Carl Froch, found the Eubank model awkward, even obstructive. Their relationship soured.

Matters turned poisonous when Benn burst into prominence under Hearn’s wing. Here was a fighter not only carrying Nigel’s surname but also promoted by Matchroom, one of boxing’s most powerful outfits in Britain. 

The Benn-Eubank Jr fight, long teased, finally appeared on the calendar in October 2022, but just days before the event, Daily Mail Sport broke the news that Benn had twice tested positive for the banned substance clomifene.

The revelations were catastrophic. The fight collapsed, tickets refunded, the reputation of British boxing dragged through the mud. The explanation offered – that Benn had eaten a large number of contaminated eggs – became a punchline. 

For Eubank, who had been forced down to a catchweight with a severe rehydration clause that left him visibly drained, it was more than an inconvenience. It was betrayal. He accused Hearn and Matchroom of protecting Benn, of putting commercial interests before safety.

That bitterness carried into subsequent months. In February 2025 prior to the rearranged bout, Eubank cracked a raw egg into Benn’s face as cameras flashed. The stunt triggered a melee on stage, with Hearn shoving rival promoter Ben Shalom. The feud had spilled into farce, but it was deadly serious too.

Speaking to Daily Mail Sport ahead of their first fight, Eubank Jr said: ‘If I implemented the law I want, 50 per cent of the industry would disappear,’ he told me. ‘As disgusting as that is to say, that’s what I probably believe. You get caught cheating, with performance-enhancing drugs in your system, you pay a fine, take a little ban, then come back pretending you’re a clean fighter again. That’s boxing. That’s the game.’

Hearn, whose defence of Benn has been unwavering, bristled at the accusation. ‘It’s absolutely ridiculous to suggest that 50 per cent of the sport would be banned,’ he told Daily Mail Sport. 

‘If you look at the number of tests done in boxing now, especially for significant fights, they are thorough. Every major championship fight now is under full VADA testing. Over the past few years, the level of testing has improved dramatically. You look at Riyadh Season – over 100 fights tested, one failed test. To claim 50 per cent would be banned is a massive exaggeration. The statistics just don’t add up.’

He did, however, acknowledge the wider problem. ‘There’s definitely a problem in all high-performance sports when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs, because people will always try to get an edge. But I don’t think it’s out of control in boxing like it is in other sports. Sometimes you get trace amounts, contamination arguments. Other times it’s deliberate, like with Jarrell Miller, who tested positive multiple times. 90 per cent of the time, the fighter knows what they’re taking.’

The back-and-forth is relentless. For every Eubank accusation of sabotage, Hearn has a counter, often delivered with exasperated humour. When told of Eubank’s claim his toenail fell off, Hearn quipped: ‘I was disappointed to hear that he lost half a toenail. That was tragic. The toenail was another level.’

When Eubank accused him of exploiting Ricky Hatton’s death, Hearn retorted that he simply wanted to pay respects and was shouted down. When Eubank suggested the Board of Control were complicit, Hearn said: ‘You can’t call Robert Smith a toad and a scumbag. He hasn’t done anything wrong.’

And yet, however toxic the relationship, it sells. Boxing thrives on grudges, and few grudge matches have deeper roots than Eubank-Benn. The fathers spilled blood three decades ago; the sons now spill venom across press conferences. 

The promoters – Hearn at Matchroom, Shalom at BOXXER – turn acrimony into ticket sales. The insults, the eggs, the ambulance tales, even the toenail: all of it fuels anticipation.

What cannot be manufactured, though, is the genuine dislike. For Eubank Jr, Hearn is not just an adversary but a threat to his career and wellbeing. For Hearn, Eubank Jr is not just a rival fighter but a walking migraine, a man who refuses to play by the rules of promotion. The result is an extraordinary feud that now overshadows even the fight itself.

And when the first bell rings at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium for the rematch, one truth will remain: no matter who wins in the ring, the war of words between Eubank Jr and Eddie Hearn is far from over.