Hours after Conor Benn’s shocking departure from Matchroom was announced Friday, Eddie Hearn sat down with iFL TV and delivered one of the most raw, emotional interviews of his career. The Matchroom promoter, who guided Benn from his professional debut in 2016 through a doping scandal and back to headline status, made no effort to hide his feelings.

“I’ve known about this for a few days now, what was unfolding. I actually received an email from Conor Benn’s lawyer to make me aware of it,” Hearn said. “I’m not going to sit here and hang Conor Benn out to dry. But, I got to be honest with you, me personally, pretty devastated.”

Hearn Blames Himself — Then Points the Finger

Hearn acknowledged that he never locked Benn into a long-term deal, a decision he now views as a costly mistake rooted in misplaced trust.

“It’s not often you get shocked, but I blame myself because I forgot it was boxing,” Hearn said. “I just felt that the loyalty that we’ve shown would never ever put us in this position. I just felt that I never really needed to push Conor Benn to sign a new contract, previously, and I probably could have got him to sign a new contract previously. Like I said, I blame myself; I made a mistake because I misjudged the character.”

That last line — “misjudged the character” — landed like a right hand. It was the closest Hearn came to a direct shot at Benn, and it carried weight given everything Matchroom invested in the fighter during the years he couldn’t compete on British soil.

Benn Wouldn’t Take the Call

Perhaps the most telling moment came when Hearn revealed that after receiving the lawyer’s email, he reached out to Benn directly — and was turned down.

“When I received the email from his lawyer, I texted him and said I think we should have a call. I think for everything I’ve done for you, I deserve a call, and he said no,” Hearn said.

Hearn continued: “I just don’t know what to say, other than I just felt that everything that we gave him, the loyalty that we gave him, the support we gave him, would be enough to talk it through — or just get close to a number, but there wasn’t really the interest.”

“You Lose a Bit of Your Soul”

As the interview went on, Hearn’s tone shifted from frustration to something closer to resignation. He described the situation as one of boxing’s painful life lessons.

“Very surprising, very painful, but just another moment in life that you live and learn from,” Hearn said. “You lose a bit of your soul. It’s a little bit numb. There’s a lot I could say.”

He also suggested outside influences played a role in Benn’s decision: “He doesn’t think like he’s done anything wrong, but that’s him as a person. Sometimes you can get poisoned.”

The Joshua Comparison

When the conversation turned to whether this was comparable to other fighters leaving Matchroom, Hearn drew a hard line between Benn and his marquee heavyweight.

“Joshua, you can’t mention those in the same breath — for many reasons. Joshua is a different breed of class and loyalty,” Hearn said.

That comment reinforces where Hearn’s priorities now stand. Anthony Joshua remains the cornerstone of Matchroom’s roster, and Hearn clearly views the two fighters’ characters as fundamentally different.

What This Means for Both Sides

Benn’s move to Zuffa Boxing — reportedly an eight-figure, one-fight deal — is the biggest signing yet for Dana White’s young promotion. It comes just days after Hearn and White traded barbs publicly, with Hearn calling Zuffa’s early events “absolute complete dogsh*t” and White dismissing Hearn as someone who “works for his dad.”

White clearly got the last word this week. Signing Benn away from Matchroom wasn’t just a talent acquisition — it was a statement about Zuffa’s ambitions and its willingness to spend aggressively to build the roster.

For Hearn, the loss stings beyond the business side. Matchroom stood by Benn through two failed drug tests starting in 2022, supported his case through the legal process that eventually cleared him in 2024 over contaminated supplement findings, and brought him back to headline the Chris Eubank Jr. rematch. That investment of time, reputation, and resources is what makes the departure feel personal — and what made Hearn’s interview so uncharacteristically emotional.

Benn, for his part, left the door open in his own statement on X, writing that he’d “love Eddie to continue to be part of my team.” Given the tone of Hearn’s response, that seems unlikely anytime soon.