Eddie Hearn Finds It ‘Weird’ to See Conor Benn on The Undercard of Fury vs Makhmudov

Conor Benn (24-1, 14 KOs) is all set to face former two-time junior welterweight champion Regis Prograis (30-3, 24 KOs) at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on the Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov card. But Benn on an undercard? A tad bit too weird, says promoter Eddie Hearn.

Talking to Boxing King Media, Hearn weighed in on the agreed catchweight for the fight while openly mocking the fight as a whole.

“150? It’s good for Conor to try and bring himself down from 160. I like Regis. You saw in the Jojo Diaz fight he’s not the fighter that he once was. He’s still a decent fighter,” he said. “But Conor should be much too fresh. It was never a fight that we were looking at because I was trying to deliver him a world championship fight. But, as a treading water fight, if you like. It’s going to be weird to see him on an undercard, but I don’t think he’ll be that bothered when he gets paid.”

This fight is happening at a time when Benn shocked the boxing world by ending his decade-long relationship with Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing to sign a lucrative one-fight deal with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing; a move that undoubtedly shocked Hearn.

Benn is coming to the fight after his rematch victory against longtime rival Chris Eubank Jr. Prograis, on the other hand, faced two back-to-back losses before his recent win against Joseph Diaz in August.

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While the fight continues to puzzle him, Hearn also questioned the reported $15 million purse.

“Let’s just see what the UFC fighters have got to say. It’s an interesting one. It’s a problem for them,” he said.

“No Pushback”

It looks like even Prograis tried to get the weight down for the fight. Talking to The Ring Magazine, he revealed that he agreed to the weight only because he wanted the fight to happen.

“At first, we tried to get the weight down a little bit. They said no. Cool, no pushback. I didn’t push back about the weight, and I didn’t pushback about a weigh-in clause. I wanted the fight, and we made the fight happen,” he said.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is the founder of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms to include online, network TV and promotional companies. He is an American Public University alumnus and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, contributed to FanSidedMMA and ProBoxTV.

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