Eddie Hearn admits he’s surprised by the announcement that Conor Benn will face Regis Prograis.
Benn’s clash with Prograis on April 11 will be his first outing since his dramatic split from Hearn.
The 29-year-old ended his career-long partnership with Hearn’s Matchroom in a bombshell move to Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing last week.
‘The Destroyer’ was expected to headline Zuffa’s inaugural UK show, but will instead feature on a Ring Magazine bill, on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s comeback against Arslanbek Makhmudov at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
And Hearn has questioned the decision for his old charge to face the former two-time super lightweight champion in a 150 pound catchweight clash.
“Not the type of fight I would have put Conor in,” the Matchroom Chairman told Fight Hub TV.
“Because I was looking for the big fights and I want him to become a world champion.
“We had two fights there for him or three fights that would have given him the opportunity to be world champion, but he wasn’t really interested in those, because he just wanted the most amount of money and I get that.
“You can’t knock someone for that.
“The Regis fight’s an interesting one, but [a] nice run out.
“With respect to Regis, you see from the JoJo Diaz fight, he’s coming to the back end of his career, but he’s still a good fighter, but Conor will be much too young and fresh for him.
“I guess it’s a treading water fight for what’s next.
“It doesn’t really make sense.”
Benn was ringside for Ryan Garcia’s win over Mario Barrios in Las Vegas last week and is the mandatory challenger to Garcia’s WBC welterweight crown.
The Essex man’s deal with Zuffa – the company headed by White and Saudi Arabian boxing chief, Turki Alalshikh – is for one fight and worth a whopping $15m.
View this post on Instagram
Benn will fight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the third straight time, with his two bouts against Chris Eubank Jr last year staged there, the second of which he won having suffered his first professional loss to the Brighton man in April.
“April 11th can’t come soon enough, returning to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium again where I made history against Eubank Jr means everything to me,” he said.
“My last fight there showed the world exactly who I am and what I’m about.
“Fighting on the biggest stages, in the biggest shows, I fear no one!”
“I’m fully locked in and ready to deliver another statement performance.”
The post Eddie Hearn: Conor Benn vs Regis Prograis doesn’t make sense appeared first on ProBoxing-Fans.com.