The Ariel Helwani Show - Ariel x Ade, episode 23: Eddie Hearn on Eubank Jr. vs. Benn, UFC, Jake Paul, Shakur, more

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

Ariel Helwani and Ade Oladipo reunite and kick off the show with Eddie Hearn, who previews the long-awaited Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conner Benn grudge match (04:49). He also reacts to Jake Paul's fight against Julio César Chávez Jr. and gives an update on Shakur Stevenson.Then, they react to Chris Eubank Sr.'s recent comments about his son (36:54), diving deeper into the strained relationship and the history of the Eubank-Benn rivalry.Next, they break down Ben Whittaker’s stoppage victory against Liam Cameron and the aftermath (50:54), before discussing Frazer Clarke’s return (58:36), and circling back to Stevenson's rumored falling out with Matchrooom (59:56).Finally, they touch on Edgar Berlanga vs. Hamzah Sheeraz being announced (1:02:34), Paul against Chávez Jr. (1:04:38), and wrap up with the Parting Shot (1:17:44).

Hello and welcome to a brand new edition of Ariella and Ade right here on the undisputed global home of boxing, The Zone. What a week it shall be. What a massive weekend we have to come and it is so great to be back in the saddle. Last week, Ade flying solo and dare I say did a masterful job So good, I thought That maybe they'd call me up and say they don't need me anymore. But luckily That phone call never came until we are back. We are reunited and it feels so good

We have so much to talk about on this Ben Eubank Fight week my guy Ade, in the heart of it all, in the mix. Nah, kind of. Kind of in the mix. I mean, you're there. I'm on the outside looking in right now. No, you're not.

It's okay. I'm on the outside looking in, but it's fine. I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining. Listen, wherever you are is in the mix. It doesn't matter. All right? Take it from someone who has prided himself

on being an outsider. It ain't too bad on this side of the fence. You understand? I get you. I get you. And thanks for your kind words about my solo effort last week. I know they're all lies.

They're all lies. It's not true. It was a hard going. I feel, I don't know, my ratings for you have gone up, Ariel. I didn't think they could get any higher than they are, but they've gone up. They've gone up a few levels. I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you do it for three four hours It's incredible. Yeah, I shall watch you and take tips next time. No. No, listen

It is tough to do it once a week certainly tougher Monday Tuesday Wednesday twice on So that's no no you you you did bring up a good point when you said it multiple times last week And I appreciated that stuff. No, no, no. You, you, you did bring up a good point when you said it multiple times last week and I appreciated that, but you did great. Hamza Shiraz great. Adam Smith great as well. And I am very happy to be back because we have so much to discuss. There's so much going on and obviously a

massive, massive weekend to come April 26th. It is four days away Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Uh, I'll be, I'll be very, very happy for the locals who have something to get excited about because Lord knows they didn't have anything to get excited about yesterday, Adé. Forest our magic on and off the pitch. Forest our magic on and off the pitch.

I feel sorry for Ange Postacoglu. For those of you that don't know what we're talking about, he's the Tottenham Hotspur football manager. I feel sorry for him. I really do. Because it's just every interview now is really hard work. I mean, he looks on the floor, doesn't he? He looks at the floor, doesn't want to make eye contact. He just wants out. He just wants to win this trophy and go. Yeah. He looks miserable. That is true. But it was a massive away win for the good guys. And so they'll have something to cheer for on Saturday as the two men come together.

We had the grand arrivals. We'll talk about that in a moment as well. The great Eddie Hearn of matchroom fame is going to be joining us in just a few minutes' time. We'll also talk about Ben Whitaker's big win on Sunday. What a win in Birmingham for him. What a comeback win. Dare I say a y'all must have forgot win for Ben Whittaker.

It was, I feel like the referee has taken away the shine from that win, but he was on his way to, I think a destructive knockout. And let's not forget when we had Liam Cameron on, after Liam Cameron left, obviously I wasn't gonna say it to him, but I did say, I think Ben's gonna put on a performance so um yeah I must have forgot what I know yeah I did call it I called it I said Ben's gonna get the job done and he did emphatically okay we'll talk more about that there's some fight

news to discuss as well there's there's a lot going on there's a lot going on as always and I'm looking forward to sinking our teeth into it we even have the answer to the question that has been on everyone's mind and that is who is going to be? Jake Paul's next victim we have that answer as well It is like one second that that's been on everyone's mind. I thought I know what the world has been waiting I thought so to know who Jake Paul's gonna fight next dated breath. Ah Okay, okay. I just do that. I do that for the YouTube chat. No, no, no, no, to be fair, I have.

But when I kind of felt it could be Canelo, then Gervonta's like, okay, whoa, he's going big time here. Who's it gonna be? Who's it gonna be? And then obviously we got the answer. And we'll get your thoughts. Well, I feel like I know where you're going

with all of this. No, no, no, no, no, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm excited by it. I'm actually kind of excited to hear what our first guest, uh, has to say about it all. And so let's bring him in. He is the head man over at matchroom. He is the man who's in the mix. He was there at the grand arrivals just a few hours ago. He's a man who needs no introduction.

The great Eddie Hearn is here. Hello, Eddie. Thank you for joining us. I do believe our very first repeat guest on the program. So I'm glad to hear that you had a very good time. The first time around, grand arrivals have come and gone, but if we can just finish up that thought, are you excited? Jake Paul, JCC junior June 28th. You like this matchup for Jake?

I mean, I prefer it to the Mike Tyson one. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that Jake, unless Jake makes loads of money, he's not going to take any substantial risks. So it's very calculated. You know, Chavez,

didn't he lose to Anderson Silver? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So who Jake beat, but I get it, you know, like obviously he's, you know, he's quite well known in Mexico. Um, I think the fight will do quite well. I don't think he's horrendous. Chavez. I mean, if he could just get himself in some kind of shape and condition, it could at least be competitive. But, um, yeah, size, youth, he's a good, good bit of matchmaking not awful Okay, fair enough somewhat positive appreciate that. Let's get to the business at hand That is this weekend's mega fight at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. You were just there at the Grand Rivals I saw you up there you it looked like you were ready to go Like I felt like you were just letting Chris know if he had anything up his sleeve that you're ready

You were kind of flexing up there, which I appreciated. Any sort of issues between you and Chris this time around? No, not really. I mean, I don't think I'm his favorite, um, don't know, promoter. I don't think he's very fond of many promoters, but, um, I respect Chris, you know, I think he's, he's a tough man. I think, you know, come from kind of like his father's shadow. I think both of them, to be honest with you, is this is the fight that kind of takes him out of that shadow.

Eubank Jr. has been around for a little bit longer and Conor Ben really has the chance on Saturday to really become one of the biggest stars, certainly in British boxing, maybe even globally. I mean, you know, if he can put together a special performance, which you'll need to do, you know, coming up a couple of divisions against Chris Eubank, but I really believe he'll do it on Saturdays in tremendous shape. And yeah, when those two come together, it's always special. But when they do it in front of 65,000 people on Saturday, it's going to be crazy. Eddie, compare it to some of the big ones that you've promoted recently or been involved

with. Obviously we had AJ Dubois a few months back, that was massive, Wembley Stadium, every AJ fight is big, right? Some of the big Canelo ones that you've done as well. How does this sit? Where does it compare? Well, I think outside of the heavyweights, outside of Anthony Joshua, it's the biggest fight since Broch Groves.

That was a one-off kind of freak fight that we did 80,000. That was kind of the first time we'd done a big stadium fight in British boxing. And since then, it's only really been AJ, you know, I think Fury, particularly against Dillian White did a great gate. But outside of the big boys, this is by far the biggest fight. And the thing is with this fight, everybody knows the narrative, everybody knows the story. It doesn't matter if you're 70 or 80 years old, you remember the great fights between their fathers. If you're middle-aged, unfortunately like me. I know both of them. I was around for both.

If you're a younger generation, you know Connor and Junior. And that's why this fight is garnering national interest, national news front page, back page. You don't really see that, to be honest with you. And it's gonna do huge numbers on the zone on Saturday. This one could break some records. And to be honest with you, I think what people have really got to understand, I think they're starting to acknowledge it now.

It's a great fight. You know, no one really knows how this fight is going to go. Forget the fact that the dads are Nigel and Chris Eubanks senior. This is two world-class fighters in their respective divisions, stepping up with a great storyline and narrative and controversy and beef between the two of them. And that's without the fact that they are the sons of the fathers who had the greatest rivalry in the history of British boxing. So this is surprising.

Does this surprise you how big it's gone? Look, the first fight around first time around O2 arena and I know it was going to do record numbers at the O2 arena, but the fact is it was going to go to the O2 arena, right? 20,000 or so it was going to be the zone's first pay per viewer then I believe in the UK. It's now three times bigger, at least in terms of stadium numbers, right? In terms of bums on seats. Did this surprise you how big it's gone in those two and a half years?

Not really. I mean, you know, it actually surprised me first time around. I knew obviously it would sell out the 02, but it actually did the biggest recorded game in the history of events at the 02, not just fights, but events. And this time around, we've obviously the controversy, the two years, you know, and it's a different kind of animosity this time. Like before, there was an element of respect. It was like, you know, we're our father's sons, we're doing this, it's incredible. Now there's genuine hatred between them, which always leads itself into a bigger event. I was actually thinking earlier, it's such a huge advantage.

I'd much rather not have Conor gone through, or even us gone through that last two and a half years, but he's in a much better place now to win this fight than he was two and a half years ago. He's bigger, he's emotionally a lot more mature. I think psychologically he's a lot stronger. Obviously, his resilience has been tested to the core. I think he's a much better fighter and you bank got knocked out during that period as well by Liam Smith. So yeah,

I like our chances probably look on reflection a lot more than I did two and a half years ago, but it's not going to be easy, but I genuinely think it will be an incredible fight. Just a couple of days ago, senior kind of held court with the media calling his son, Chris Jr., a disgrace, talking about the egg incident, all that stuff, saying once again, he's not going to be a part of this, that he's very disappointed in him.

Are you at all disappointed that ultimately, Senior won't be there on Saturday in his corner? Honestly, not for the promotion, but just the fact that it's his father, and it's, you know, he is one of the all-time greats of British boxing. And your son is about to fight in one of the biggest fights in the history of British boxing. I think it's a bit sad and I don't really get on that much with Junior, but I wouldn't really go too deep into it because it's a personal thing.

And I just hope that life is much bigger than a fire and it's much bigger than Saturday. And I hope that they can rekindle their relationship because it's important. And seniors should be very proud of Junion. I mean, he probably hasn't achieved necessarily all of what he would have liked to, but he still had a good solid career, made a lot of money. And again, on Saturday, he's fighting in one of the biggest fights in the history of British boxing against the son of your greatest rival. So I find it a little bit sad, but it's life.

And hopefully those two can, you know, hug it out after the fight and, you know, rekindle that relationship. I noticed something in the midst of the press conference week and then in the aftermath, and I'm wondering if you have noticed it as well. For the longest time, as you know, Junior was somewhat of a villain in the UK.

People thought that he didn't deserve the attention or he was a netball baby, all this stuff and more. He wasn't as good as his dad. They didn't like his demeanor, his personality. But I feel like to steal a pro wrestling phrase, he has become the biggest baby face, if you will, in boxing, certainly in the UK. He's a good guy now because it feels like the people view

him as the lone wolf who's without his dad going up against you, going up against Connor, the, the allegations, all that stuff. And now all of a sudden I see in the comments like, I've never wanted a fighter to win more. I love this version of him. Go Chris, we're all backing you. Have you noticed a transformation and if so why do you think that has happened? Well I think Connor Benz become a little bit of a villain of course over the last couple of years. I think not deservedly so, but that's just life. Conor's been very outspoken. I think some people have backed him. Some people haven't

backed him. And that's kind of opened the door for Chris to, Chris plays a fantastic game. I mean, he's, he was fantastic in the press conferences. He's very calculated with everything that he does. And he's played, he's played a great game, to be honest with you. And this is very strange, and we are very strange, Ariel. I think both fighters will get booed on Saturday in some respect. Honestly. Like, you think, how is that even possible? But it's just something that Brits do.

I don't know how we do it, but yeah, I think that Conor Ben was hugely popular before all the controversy. I think there's still an element of big respect for what he's overcome. But yeah, I think there will be people that want to see him get beat. I'm sure there'll be people that want to see Eubank Jr. get beat. But definitely, I think Eubank Jr.'s not stock has risen, but I just think it's know, he, it's almost like he doesn't take himself as serious anymore. I think in the early days, he was very surly. He was very, some might say cringe, but like I think now he's just, I think he's more himself now, you know, and I think he has broken out of his father's shadow and early on in his career,

the father was there the whole time on his shoulder, you know, all I think he has broken out of his father's shadow and early on in his career, the father was there the whole time on his shoulder. You know, all the pictures of him with a flag and, you know, and, and Juniors come into his own and he's a, he's a, he's a fun personality. Eddie, at the first press conference, I brought up the weight in terms of, you know, the weight cap that Chris will have to kind of make sure he does on fight morning and fight night. Can you clear it up? Because I thought that there's some confusion. People online are saying this and some people are saying that. What is the weight that Chris has to make come Saturday morning? 170 pounds.

Okay. So the first fight was at 157 pounds with a nine pound hydration and this fight is at 160 pounds with a 10 pound hydration. So I don't, I mean, look, the difference really right now, specifically tonight was Connor Benz flying in, he's probably about 162 pounds right now, something like that. So he's just going to naturally fall on weight on Friday. U-Bank's going to have to, like every championship fighter, make that weight on Friday. And then he'll just have to watch himself, really. I don't think it will be a struggle

at all for him to stay within the 10 pound limit. It will be Saturday morning. The reality is Conor Ben will go into the ring probably at 160 pounds or very close to 162, 163 and Chris Eubank will go into the ring somewhere between 175 and 180 pounds. So Conor, Chris Eubank will have somewhere between 10 pounds and a stone on Conor Ben in the ring, which is a huge advantage, huge advantage. But we know that and we've signed up for that. So we're not, we're not sulking about it or gonna make any excuses.

It is what it is, but you know, the narrative of, you know, you banks bringing himself down to the weight is the championship weight. He's made it the last five fights. It's not, you know, and yes, the hydration is designed for it, not to get out of control where he might have 20 or 25 pound on Conor bent in the ring, which would just be ridiculous. Yeah. Today was the first time seeing them again. Obviously they couldn't go face to face, but you could see the size difference in the two. I felt not just in height, which is obviously there, but in terms of just frame as well, I felt like you may just look bigger. I know he's wearing a big jacket. You could see that he's a bit bigger than Chris. I'm

sorry. Then Connor. What's the plan with Connor? I mean, obviously, look, there is a rematch clause that was again known after the press conference. Can he get back down to 147? Is he going to try and find a landing spot 154 pounds? Like what's the sort of the 12 to 18 month plan? Because I think he's a superstar. He's got the superstar looks, he's got the following love him or hate him. You're going to tune in and he could be the big British superstar that we've been waiting for after AJ. What is the plan with him? Well, I mean, if he wins, I think he becomes that big star. And I think anytime you're involved in a fight like this, your profile goes to new levels. I think that Connor has enjoyed the camp.

I mean, look, the sparring partners are Denzel Bentley, Bruno Surras, William Skoll. Wow, big guys. A couple of light heavyweights in there as well. He's looked sensational in sparring, sensational. But he's not a middleweight. I mean, there's no doubt about that. When you come back down, it's very difficult. There are similarities in this fight to Kellbrooke against Gennady Golovkin in terms of the welterweight

jumping up and facing the middleweight. Chris Eubank Jr., one thing he's definitely not is Gennady Golovkin, especially when Gennady was in his prime. But interestingly, after that fight,ellebrook remained world champion at 147 pounds and then decided to stay there and fight his mandatory, which at the time was Errol Spence. And I actually said to him, I really think you should move to 154. I think that's your perfect weight class. But he wanted to defend his title and it was brutal coming back down to 147 after really feeling pretty good at 160, but obviously fighting Gennady Golovkin.

So I think Connor still has it in his mind to return to 147, but a lot will depend on his performance and how he feels in the ring. You know, he's definitely not a middleweight. Um, but whether he returns to 54 or 47, we'll have to see. Did the, the British boxing board of control really find him $100,000 Chris junior pounds pounds pounds. Did they really do that? And do you think that's fair?

I think there's a couple of things. Number one, unfortunately, in a way that is the way that the world, the online world, the quest for numbers is going. Number two, for all the hard work that everybody does for boxing in the community and the way that we talk about the things that it instills in the future generations, like discipline, manners, respect. And for all those people that put all the hard work in within the community to young kids to teach them what's right and wrong,

we can't just sit back and say, oh, it's only a bit of fun. Like, you know, it's only, you know, did big numbers, didn't it? It's like, what sort of world are we living in? You can't strike someone around the face at a press conference. Forget the egg, forget if you find it funny, whatever.

And I get it now, on reflection, it was a good move, I get it. But you can't just allow as a governing body to say that that's okay. I guess the issue that some people may have with it is the value of the fine, because it's a significant number. And as long as that number goes into things like Xbox's association or old fighters that

may have picked up injuries in the sport and need support, then I get it. But I think a lot of the reaction from fans in the media is where does that money go? Um, but it is a, it is a significant number, but we just have to otherwise, you're moving into like a misfits world and it's like, it's just, it's not what we, it's not what we're about. It's not what the sports about, you know, and it seems fine now for the younger generation to, to think that they can do things like that. And you, that's not what the sport is trying to instill in people. That is fair. Can I ask, were you surprised that he ultimately paid the undercard fighters from the first

bout in October? No, not once. He said it. No, I mean, you know, it's very difficult because as I said, everything that Chris does is calculated. But you can't really criticize what he did because fighters got paid money. If you start saying, oh, he just did it, it was a move with a message behind it. Who does a good deed and then sticks it all over the internet? But at the end of the day, he did it, didn't he? It's good. It's good for boxers. who does a good deed and then sticks it all over the internet.

But at the end of the day, he did it, didn't he? And it's good, it's good for boxers. Unfortunately, we live in a world where the industry standard, if you like, doesn't do that. Whether that's right or wrong, the biggest job of a promoter is to reschedule that fighter's date as soon as possible. We've actually only cancelled, I think, two shows in the history of me being a promoter. Normally we just somehow find a way to carry on and just make sure everyone gets on, but in that instance with the furor behind the incident and the main event falling through, we cancelled the show and everybody, every one of our fighters got a new date immediately within, I think some as early as two weeks.

Do you know what I mean? But of course you do train a little bit longer and it was a nice gesture. I think it was a nice gesture. I always feel like the undercard fighters and when it's mega shows like this, the undercard fighters get forgotten and I get it right. It's the Eubank and Ben show. So ultimately they know the place that they are, but there's some really good undercard fights.

You've got a couple of fighters in big fights as well. Chef Clark, I think is an incredible fight against Vidar Riley. That for me is almost like the co-main event. I think that's the one where people completely split. I think that's the fight kicking off the night. I think that's the fight kicking off the night. Yeah, that's the fight kicking off the night. Yeah. Yeah.

So that's a really good domestic 50-50 fight. It's a big fight for Sheff. You know, he really needs to win that fight. Vidal Riley, you know, kind of come from that KSI YouTube world, but has actually proved that he can really fight as well. And I think the fight of the night could be Liam Smith against Aaron McKenna. It's a really, really good fight. It's kind of like a crossroads fight, a very good middleweight, unbeaten prospect in McKenna against world-class middleweight in Liam Smith that really needs to win. Yard, of course, against Lyndon Arfa,

the trilogy of that fight and even, um, Chris Billingsmith against America's Brandon Glantz. It's a good, good fire. I think you're going to get some crackers on there and it's difficult because when there's a fight that's garnering so much attention and hype in you bank, Ben, you almost don't really focus on the undercard, but you're going to get, you know, really good nights of boxing there as well. Eddie away from matters on Saturday, it has been so much boxing news and one of the big,

I think stories in the last couple of days, and again, you can confirm this because you know what Twitter's like and social media, people just make up stories and run with them, but it's Shakur Stevenson. Obviously, look, big fight for him against Williams O'Payda. You've promoted the last couple of Shakur Stevenson fights. It seemed as though everything was fantastic. He's been over here I'm sorry just the one apologies

What's the situation with Shakur Stevenson because we're here in this situation is quite straightforward we have a two-fight agreement with Turkey ala shake and Shakur Stevenson Which includes is a paid a fight and that that's how it is You know, I was with his excellency today for a couple of hours and the team. I saw the news as well. And obviously just wanted to say to him,

we do have this agreement, right? I mean, one, it's papered and two, it's confirmed in front of everybody. And the answer is absolutely. So July 12th is the last of that agreement, but hopefully we can promote Shakur Stevenson for the rest of his career. I mean, I think he's one of the best fighters in the world. I've always said that our agreement with him is two fights and we hope that it extends beyond that.

Hopefully we can beat Zapata on July 12th and then move into big fights. Speaking of Turkey, there was all this hysteria like a month or so ago with the announcement with TKO. It feels like it has dissipated a little bit. WBC seems to be in good graces. Everyone seems happy. Can you tell us about the state of the relationship? Because again, speaking of social media, it seems like every day it's, you know, Eddie's fallen out of favor. Frank is falling out of favor. Where do, where do things stand? Well, I was with Frank. I mean, I was with his excellency today and Frank.

I mean, no one's fallen out of favor. I mean, you have to look at, sometimes you have to look at the sources of these comments. Like, I mean, how would even this individual know that we've fallen out? And it's absolutely rubbish. Turkey doesn't really fall out with any promoters. It really is where you are and where he is at the time with his excellency. So when he's in America, for example,

he's around, I don't know, Oscar and PBC and whatever. And then when he's in London, he's in front of me and Frank and we're planning what we're doing. I mean, today we talked about, blimey, one, two, three, four fight nights that we're all doing with him for the rest of the year and the plans for Riyadh. I mean, he doesn't slow down, you know, and the plans are unbelievable. And there's a, you know, it's always been wild and there's always been like this complete madness, but the more time you actually spend with him, the more you realise that there is a strategy and there is a very deep plan. So, no, I can confirm I definitely haven't fallen out with His

Excellency. We are running all the logistics next week for Times Square, which is an incredibly tough job that the team have done out there. And then I will be traveling with him from Times Square to Riyadh to land in time to watch Canelo Alvarez. So, yeah, unfortunately for those people that really hope I fall out with his excellency, I haven't yet and I don't plan to either. That is great to hear. Could you tell us about Dimitri Bivul?

It sounds like they're gonna go with the trilogy. Do you have any idea when that may happen? Yeah, that was part of our conversations today. So, you know, planning what happens and who goes where, the back end of this year. Of course, His Excellency provided that first opportunity for undisputed. Then he gave Dmitry Bevolyev the rematch, which he didn't have to do. And part of that agreement was that we fight a third fight if we win. And that's why we didn't fight Benavides,

because contractually we're obliged to fight Betabev. And that's the we didn't fight Benabeidis because contractually we're obliged to fight Betabeyev and that's the third fight, the big trilogy. So we will wait on confirmation from his excellency on the date of that but it will be a huge fight and you know you've seen two of the best fights I think in this generation in the light heavyweight division and the third will be another special night. Final one for me Eddie Eddie Anthony Joshua looks like he's enjoyed his time back in Nigeria. He looks refreshed looks energized Anything with regards to what next for him? Is it yeah, it's Tyson Fury or nothing or you know like Tyson Fury or not? Timon or is it yeah? No. No, it's definitely not Tyson Fury or nothing. But at the same time, you know, I don't want to say we're not in a rush because it kind of makes us feel like we don't really

have any hunger for it, which is definitely not true when it comes to Anthony Joshua, but he's, you know, he's, when he gets back, he's going to enter full camp, he's going to be able to punch properly. So once we're in that flow, we know that we can set a fight date without worrying about him physically being ready. I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't a big part of me. And I would think AJ as well that hopes that Tyson Fury doesn't pick up the phone and say, do you know what?

Let's give the world the biggest fight in boxing. Yes. But if that doesn't happen, he's going to fight 100%. You know, he's definitely not going to wait around and then fear he doesn't fight again, just go hang him up. But it's who you fight, you know, obviously, who's six going to fight the wall, you know, do you look at the winner, all of a sudden, if Dubois wins that fight, AJ can fight Dubois for undisputed. Hmm.

You know, I mean, who knows what's going to happen, but we've got to get this decision right. I mean, he's definitely got between one and three fights left. So every decision now is key. And he's still, he's still, the fire still burns for AJ. No doubt about that. But, you know, it bugs me to say it, but yeah, we really do want the big man to give us a call, you know, because that's the fire, but it's gotta come from Tyson Fury. What a time, Eddie, what a time. You talk about that's that's the fire, but he's got come from Tyson Fury

What a time Eddie what a time you talk about that July date We could have three massive shows that weekend with the card here in New York City potential Wembley card as well The other one on the 12th here in New York in in some sort of secret location Massive weekend next weekend with three big shows in New York, Riyadh and Las Vegas. And of course we kind of kick off this incredible stretch with the massive one at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. I said at the top of the show, I'm happy the fans there will have something to cheer about

because my beloved Nottingham Forest beat them yesterday. So I'm just happy. I just always find a reason to bring them up. So it was a nice two- Forest to fly. That's an unbelievable success story. Isn't it something else? Isn't it weird also, like when I hitched my wagon to them all of a sudden, it's

crazy, right? I mean, it's also, it's also crazy that you call them beloved and you've only just recently, yeah, three long years. Yeah. It's been, it's been quite the struggle, but since then no relegation and here we are, uh, vying for a champions league spot. I mean, it's something else. It really is. Um, how's something else, it really is.

How's UFC these days? And MMA? Oh I love this. Tell us, tell us, why do you ask that question? What's the... There's nothing facetious in it, it's a genuine question. I feel like boxing at the moment is just skyrocketing in terms of eyeballs you know, eyeballs, attention, narrative, conversation, digital, you know, narrative. And look, UFC is a massive business, but I just, you know, do they need to make a, I'm saying this as a complete MMA casual, do they need a John Jones against Aspinal style fight to really, you know, not get back on track

because the business is incredible, but I don't know. It wasn't a leading question. It was just curiosity. Well, I think you know a lot about what is going on. You call yourself a casual, if you will. I think you know more. And I think it was a very appropriate question because I would say just as we spoke a few months

ago and it pissed some people off, there are more intriguing things happening in the sport of boxing. Now we are comparing a sport to a promotion, but let's be honest, the promotion really is the sport. MMA right now is in a recession. MMA is in a really tough spot.

There is no number two. Uh, there's, I mean, Lord knows there's no number three, certainly not here in North America. And to your point, the UFC, they'll have their big shows once a month, a pay-per-view, typically top heavy. The last one was good, the next one is top heavy. Their Super Bowl show, their big one of the year usually happens end of June, early July. That's International Fight Week.

It's April 22nd right now. They have yet to announce a main event because they don't have a main event. John Jones, he July. That's International Fight Week. It's April 22nd right now. They have yet to announce a main event because they don't have a main event. John Jones isn't signing up for the Aspen All Fight as of right this moment. They don't know what they're gonna do with Ilya Toporya,

who's their other big star coming out of Spain and Georgia. It's not a great time. Conor McGregor has shown no interest in coming back. And so people could say whatever they want. They're about to score a massive rights deal in the States, as you probably know, but in terms of like a high watermark for the sport, an apex moment for the sport,

we are not in that moment right now. Is it a lack of stars? Like this just happened. I think, by the way, I think this is cyclical. You know, people talk about it in British boxing at the moment, you know, all these guys are getting old. Yeah, well guess what?

The new world guys that are coming through, the five and oh, eight and oh, 10 and oh, all these guys are getting old. Yeah, well, guess what? The new one guys that are coming through, the five and oh, eight and oh, 10 and oh, 12, they are the future and they'll get there. But then, you know, sometimes there's just that lull. It is 100% cyclical. You're 100% right. And you're someone who knows about this. I also feel like there's a bit of a McDonaldization

of the promotion where they have gotten so popular that it all starts to feel a little rinse repeat. They do these shows at the Apex, which I think has taken the soul away from the events. They're doing like 10 or so a year, hopefully less next year. And there was once a time where Dana White would say, our shows would never be like boxing events.

Top heavy, one or two big fights and nothing underneath. And anyone who tells you otherwise that they are not doing that right now is simply lying They're very top-heavy and then the rest are relatively up-and-coming unknown soon-to-be players soon-to-be contenders But not what they were back in oh nine Twenty ten eleven the biggest star in the UFC are the three letters Would you not agree that when the UFC says they come to town they could sell tickets off those three letters alone I don't know if a lot of promotions

Respectfully including your own that could say we're coming to town and we're gonna sell out People need to know who's on the card the UFC and WWE are probably the only combat sports entities right now in my opinion That could do that. Do you agree or disagree? Yeah, I do think we're the closest to that where we go to a new territory globally and say Manchester may come in town. But it is like, you know, obviously you get it because you know the sport, but it's a bit like darts with the PDC. I mean, I know Luttenlinter isn't the current, you know, like big attraction, but we go to arenas. People don't even know who's playing big attraction, but we go to arenas. People don't even know who's playing,

and it sells out instantly. And that's the beauty of the UFC. How long can you rely on that if there aren't still some stars popping in and out, you know? But very interesting. Yes, we could talk about this all day, but I don't want to leave my friend Adé out. Maybe that's one for one of your other shows. Actually, I was asked today if you'd like to come by by if we'd like to have you in studio next week you'll be in town and so we can continue this conversation. Let's do some MMA chat next week Ariel you know. Perfect. I'm so versatile. I look forward to that as well.

Thank you. Thank you so much Eddie. Good luck this weekend. We're looking forward to it very much. Cheers guys, take care. All right there he is the great Eddie this weekend. We're looking forward to it very much. Cheers guys. Take care. All right. There he is. The great Eddie Hearn. Eddie, he didn't want to leave. You know what? You know, I liked what he said because obviously you said UFC, WWE and he's right. PDC, the Darts. When they go to town, you don't necessarily need to care

who's playing. People will just turn up. The arts has grown massively. It's incredible. Oh yeah. And it is kind of like pro wrestling. When you go to the events with the walkouts, with the characters, all that stuff, they've done a tremendous job. I'm looking forward to them coming to New York at the end of June as well. Let's go back to U-Bank Ben.

And you know, I referenced senior not being there. I just wanna play a clip for you to react to because I can't quite, I can't like get rid of it. I can't stop thinking of it. This is senior speaking to seconds out. He spoke to a whole bunch of media outlets, but the one with seconds out stood out for me where he literally calls his son a disgrace and horrible, you know, as a father, as a

son, again, Eddie said it perfectly fighting promotion one thing but this is this is family stuff and I hate the fact that we have gotten to this point in case you missed it here it is. Junior you're smashing an egg against this guy's face I told you that I didn't teach you that. Who told you that? Did Karen teach you that? Who taught you that? Did Karen teach you that? Who taught you that? That's disgraceful. I have, I can have, I'm going to stand in your corner, you must be mad.

You must be mad. I would never be in your corner. You're a disgrace. You're smashing an egg in someone's face and then you're trying to justify it. There's no justification for that. There's nothing noble about that. You are a disgrace.

And you see the fire in which he says that. You must be mad that I'll be in your corner. What's your reaction? Very uncomfortable. Yeah. Very uncomfortable. I almost wish that we didn't sort of see Chris speak to those outlets.

And I get it, those outlets have got to do what they've got to do. We've played the clip as well. I remember when Chris first started out, I was lucky enough to kind of be a junior reporter, if you like, at the time. And I used to go to those press conferences and Chris Jr. would sit there,

almost a bit like a robot or a statue and not say anything. It was the Chris Eubanks Senior Show. And then eventually I started to see Chris Jr. start talking and become his own man. And Chris Sr. almost go into the shadows. And now Chris Jr. is his own man, right? Says what he wants. And I almost feel like the dad hates that. He hates that he no longer has control of his son and his son now can do what he wants

to do and rightly so he's a man. He's a 35 year old man. And what annoys me the most is that every time Chris Jr. is asked questions about his dad, he still speaks with him in glowing terms with so much respect, hopes that the wound can be healed. I remember when he had a wonderful conversation with yourself. He's never ever said anything negative to my knowledge about his dad. Yeah. He has to hear that. He has to hear that on the, on the eve of the biggest night of his career against the bends. He has to hear someone that he wants in his corner

that he's openly said he would work to get in his corner, he hears someone calling him a disgrace. For what? What's he done disgraceful? Chris, Chris, Chris, you mentioned I'm I've been around boxing, working in it for nearly a decade. I know some horrible characters. I know some good ones. Chris, you made in junior is one of the best people I've seen in boxing. Look at what you just did in terms of pen the undercard. best people I've seen in boxing. Look at what he just did in terms of pen the undercard. Is that a disgraceful human being's behavior? He's wonderful. He's great for the sport. Um, honestly, when I heard those words, it kind of hurt me in my heart a little bit because I want him to be there for his son. I just think it makes perfect sense, but I also wouldn't want someone that has that energy around me come fight week. I just wouldn't want it

So look, I hope it gets resolved behind the scenes But I thought some of the words there from senior who I respect so much. I just think went way too far Why do you think he speaks with that type of vitriol when talking about that? Like ultimately what did he no longer in control? Be son sure that's what it Again, being at those press conferences, I mean, you remember when you used to get in the ring and be in the corner and it was all about, it was always about the Chris Eubanks senior show. Sure. He didn't even give his son advice. I remember it like it was yesterday.

He would almost just kind of walk around and I'm like, what's he doing? And now that his son no longer needs him for that, I think it annoys him. And I honestly, I guess the only thing I can put it to. Look, there have been other issues. Obviously, look, he lost a son, Chris lost a brother, and that's gonna affect them as well. No doubt both of them are still going through the issues with that,

but you don't need to air that in public. Like he always talks about being noble and just being a gent, if you like. If you are that, why would you air that about your son to a YouTube outlet? Honestly, I think it's a disgrace what he's done. You're cooking here. You're 100% on point and I couldn't agree more. It's very uncomfortable to watch. I have great affinity. I had a chance to, uh, meet Chris senior at Mayweather McGregor. I was blown away by his

character, by his persona, by his, by his aura, if you will. And then had him on the show, but this is uncomfortable. And I don't think junior deserves this, to be honest. He does not deserve it. And he certainly doesn't deserve it 10 or so days before one of the biggest fights of his life. Uh, it's. It's uncomfortable to watch. It's one thing if it's a former manager

or former trainer speaking like this, this is a father speaking about his son and it cuts different. And Chris Jr. has said all the right things whenever asked these uncomfortable questions. And so you have to imagine deep down inside, he is hurting. You have to imagine. Of course he is. And it's funny because obviously you said it in a joking sense, but it almost does

feel like it's Chris Jr. versus Nigel Ben, Conor Ben and Eddie Hearn. Oh no, 100%. Let's be honest. It's not really Ben Shalom. No. It's not Ronnie Davis. They're not really saying anything. It's him versus Free. And all of a sudden the person he needs right now is his dad. He needs that now more than ever. Now more than ever, now more than ever. And not only you're not getting your dad, you're not getting your dad and he's saying that about you. So that's one thing. Okay. You know, Chris senior

is not going to be there. We tried. Fair enough. No problem. But then when you get things, him saying things like that, like who taught you to behave like that? You're a disgrace. Did I bring you up like this? I mean, what are we doing? He's not a 16 year old. He's a 35 year old man. It's honestly, it blew my mind. Blew my mind. What a roller coaster this, this new chapter in the Ben, you bank rivalry has taken from 2022 when we thought we were going to get it. And then it all kind of blew up in smoke.

I, I'd imagine Eddie has a little bit of PTSD this week, just thinking like, let's get to Saturday because that fight week was just absolutely insane. And it seems like at least as of now it's Tuesday, all systems are going and the thread, the story, the foundation of the first time around was built on the rivalry between senior and Nigel Ben. And that still remains. Here we are speaking of senior.

Nigel's going to be in his son's corner come Saturday. And when I think of the Ben-Eubank rivalry, it actually reminds me of another famous family rivalry. And that's the the Harrigans and the Stephensons. Are you familiar with the Harrigans and the Stephensons? Of course I am dude. I've been watching Mobland. I've watched all the episodes that have been aired so far. I'm obsessed with it. Obsessed with it. Well we didn't speak about this beforehand. I hope that you're being serious because our very first sponsor is Mobland,

which is premiering and streaming right now on Paramount+. You didn't even know this. This is legit. This is a shoot. This really? Really? This is serious?

Look at the screen. There it is. Presented by Mobland, which by the way, we are four episodes in. It's tremendous stuff Tom Hardy Pierce Brosnan Helen Mirren who else Guy Richie is the executive producer and director it's a tremendous series about a family rivalry the Harrigan's and the Stevenson in case you haven't watched it unlike Adia and I

take a look at this we have a situation developing. Ah, yes! Get down! Love himself. Power is a hungry thing. With family rivalries on everyone's minds, you gotta watch this. It premieres every Sunday, new episode, every Sunday on Paramount. Plus you can go back and watch the first four

episodes, a tremendous sort of old school London, family rivalry, mobster stuff, everything you want and more to get you ready for Saturday's Ben Eubank showdown. And, uh, I love the fact that I actually purposely didn't tell you that they were going to be our first sponsor. Cause we've been talking about having a sponsor

for weeks. You're an actual fan. What better, what better reaction? Honestly, I love Guy Ritchie. I love obviously that I grew up on snatch and lock stock and two smoking barrels. And what I love about Mobland as well, obviously look shot in London. And I just love the fact that I can see sort of venues and where he's been. I can see certain streets. I know certain streets of where some of the stuff was shot. So that's incredible. Honestly, it's incredible. And Tom Hardy, one of my favorite actors, Helen Mirren, who's like just royalty over here. And so it's Pierce Brosnan. So look, fantastic cast.

And I'm itching to get to Sunday for episode five because I don't want to give too much away, but it's starting to get really heated. So yeah, what an amazing sponsor. Amazing. Going back to Chris, if I can, Chris Jr. Do you agree with what I said to Eddie in terms of the fact that he has now become the baby face? And if so, why do you think that is? Your boots on the ground, you have the temperature of the people,

you're right there. It feels like every time I look at the comments of a Chris Jr. interview, everyone's like, please Chris, do it, I want you to do it, I'm on your side, I finally turned in your corner, what happened here and did this actually happening? Am I reading it correctly? No, no, no, you are, look,

and it's almost happened by default. I mean, let's not sort of sugar coat or try and just skim over what Conor Bend has been for in the last two and a half years and the reasons why the first fight didn't happen, I still feel like there is a lot of of anger even though me and you've kind of got over it I feel like there's still a lot of British fight fans that are angry with Conor Bend And so by default if he's fighting a fellow Brit, they're on that side now. So that's happened I think they look at the situation with these dads. So they're gonna jump to that as well

They look at it like okay It's him versus Eddie Hearn Eddie Hearn is is almost the person that everyone loves to hate for some reason. Eddie Hearn will probably get booed walking in as well. So it's like him versus that team over there. And I feel like they're starting to finally understand the Chris Eubank Jr. humor and his personality. I think a lot of people looked at it earlier as being quite snobbish, but now they realize that's who he is. But they also know that he's got a kind heart. I think they're seeing how he's looking after his brother's part, that his brother that passed away, their child, he's almost taken on the role of looking

after that child. And I think people can see that he obviously paid all the undercard fighters. He put that out there as well. They can see that. So how can you not like him? Like what's he done wrong? And I always feel like Chris used to say this like, guys, what am I doing wrong? I don't cheat. I get in there. I try my hardest. I fight.

I'm not out partying. I'm not doing this. I'm not doing that. I'm a good guy. And I think finally people are starting to say, you know what? You're not that bad after all, are you? So yeah, I think it's taken a while,

but at the age of 35, the British public are finally behind him. But I think it's also because they're not really behind Conor Ben. So it's almost like one's working with the other. Win or lose, you think we're getting a rematch? It depends how it plays out. I think like most fights, right? It depends how it plays out.

If this goes to points, Bivalpiterby of Esk, then why not? If it doesn't, then I think both go their separate ways. Oh really? Wow. I thought it was Fed-A-Compli no matter the result, regardless. No, but I mean, it's no matter the result. It's the biggest fight for both of them, right? It is, but it's all down to bums and seats and interest. And say, just play with me here. Say Conor Ben gets knocked out in three rounds. People are going to be like, oh, we knew it. Chris Eubanks too big, too strong, too experienced. We will move on. So something crazy has to happen

or it has to be a really tight fight, I think for there to be a rematch. How old were you in 1990? I was nine. Do you remember the first fight? Absolutely. Wow. Where did you watch it? Yeah.

ITV. So- No, I mean like, where were you? Oh, at home, at home. Okay. But then my dad was around. So my dad used to be a big boxing fan. So all the big fights used to come on. Even the ones in America, my dad was, would watch it like that.

So I remember that one almost like it was yesterday. That one was really interesting as well as seeing Ronnie Davis, who's obviously part of Chris Eubanks team, seeing a young Ronnie Davis walk into the ring with Chris Eubank, who at the time I didn't like because I was a big Nigel Ben fan, but I gained so much respect for him in latter years. And then where were you for the rematch? I don't remember. Wow.

Obviously I remember the rematch, but I don't exactly remember where I was. Obviously, 1993 Old Trafford. I was just begging for Nigel to win. He did win that fight. Forget the record books people, he won that fight. It wasn't a draw, but I don't remember where I was. I'm guessing, look, I would have been what? 12, so I would have been at home,

but I just don't remember. Well, if in fact Junior and Connor fight again, that will be four fights between the Bens and U-Banks. There are four episodes already up on Paramount Plus right now, it's called Mobland, it's an all-star cast. We appreciate them joining forces with us. We appreciate their support very much. They support us, you should support them as well.

Go check it out right now, Paramount Plus, Mobland, new episode, episode five on Sunday. So once you're done with all the fighting, sit back and relax and watch a great series on Sunday. We appreciate them very much. I want to go back to Mr.

Ben Whitaker, cause you were, you were just about to start cooking there. He gets the win. Everyone's writing him off a somewhat lackluster performance last spring, Crystal Palace, he comes back in October against Liam Cameron and it's a total mess of the situation.

Everyone thinks he wanted out. He was fraud checked, all these things and more comes back in Birmingham and gets the job done. He was aggressive. He was relentless. He, he was switched on, not a lot of, you know, antics, if you will. He teamed up with Andy Lee, who seems to be the fight whisper at this time.

He is on fire as far as being a head trainer is concerned. And then it somewhat ends with a bit of controversy on two fronts. Number one, the stoppage. Some said, Hey, if that was Cameron pouring it on Whitaker, no way the ref stops it number one and number two. Whitaker fired up afterwards, sticks his head through the ropes. Some accused them of spitting on Cameron's corner.

Nonsense. I don't agree. I didn't see that, but still it was a little much. And then again, in Eddie alluded to this, I was surprised. I thought here's an Olympic silver medalist. He flew the flag. He represented the country. I could not believe the amount of hate that this guy was getting after a victory. Being called all these things, a helmet, a bell and a sausage.

All these words that you guys like to use. Oh, worse. And worse. Yes, you are right. And worse. Racial stuff as well. What did you make of the whole scene? Starting, and I know I set up a lot there, but starting with the performance, the stoppage, and then of course the aftermath. Oh look, the performance was great, especially when you consider the pressure going into the fight.

Um, again, only Whitaker will know what happened in the first fight. Only he will know whether or not he was really injured, whether or not he took Liam Cameron over the ropes, whether he wanted out or not. We don't know, only he does. But regardless, nonetheless, that amount of pressure going into the second fight, right? You get home turf, it's on a home show, the promoter's your promoter, you have to win.

Not only do you have to win, I think you have to look really good because there's a lot of hype about Ben Whittaker. And you mentioned it, Olympic silver medalist, he's got the big following, everyone thinks he's gonna be a superstar. Andy Lee told me prior to signing up with him, they think he can beat everyone. So a lot of people have been very hyped.

So it wasn't a case of just win. You just go life and death and get a point to victory. You've got to look fantastic. And he did. He delivered. He delivered when the going got tough. When the back was against the wall, he found a way and he looked razor sharp. And I think one thing that was key was that everyone was questioning whether or not he

had punch power. But yes, he's got the flashy skills, we know that. But can he really hurt fellow 175 pounders? And I think we saw that he could. That right hand was fantastic. He leant to the body and then he kind of sort of threw in a couple of more big right hands and a referee, Howard Foster, I think a step too early said no. I think Howard Foster rubbed him what was going to be a fantastic victory but nonetheless the record books will say it was a victory. Now the aftermath, this

was an outpouring of emotion. I almost feel like we sometimes forget these guys are human. He has been through so much and I think we saw that in his post fight press conference when he cried. He has been through so much. I think we saw that in his post fight press conference when he cried. He has been through so much. I don't think we understand the pressure that these fighters have gone into the ring. And for about 20 seconds, yes, he went over the top. He did. He made a mistake.

He made a beeline for Liam Cameron's corner. He went under the ropes, shouted at Grant Smith. A bit of spit came out. He did not spit at him. A bit of spit came out. But then everyone calmed down. A bit of spit came out But then everyone calmed down and Andy Lee rightly said look go and apologize to him now Which he did and gonna apologize and go and give Lim Cameron a bit of a hug Which he did we move on British fight fans for some reason can't move on. I don't know what it is I don't know. They just don't like him that is eccentric. I don't know. They don't like that. He is

Somewhat arrogant somewhat overconfident. I don't understand because they just don't like him that he's eccentric. I don't know if they just don't like that. He is somewhat arrogant, somewhat overconfident. I don't understand. Because if you was to poll British fight fans right now and say, who is your greatest ever fighter? I guarantee you 90% of them would say Prince Nassim Hamid, who was also arrogant and overconfident. I don't understand the problem with being a bit different. If Ben Whittaker was an American fighter,

you guys would be lapping him up. And I cover American fights right now and they lap up all the eccentric and overconfident fighters. British fight fans seem to despise it. They want everyone to march the same hymn sheet. And I think it's a disgrace. Leave him alone. Let him just be who he wants to be. Honestly, it really makes my blood boil the way he gets treated. Especially when the racial slur start coming out as well. It just annoys the hell out of me.

But Ben, this is what you signed up for. You're gonna get more of it, unfortunately. And I would say my advice to Ben would be, it's better to be hated than to be in a place where people find you a bit indifferent and don't tune in. Sure. They're going to tune in to see you get chinned or they're going to tune in to see you win. Either way they're tuning in.

Yeah, that is fair. And I appreciate the passion and the emotion because it's an uncomfortable thing to witness as well. By all accounts seems like a good young man who is easy to root for, who is fun, who again represented the country, uh, got this close to, to, to winning a gold medal. I don't get it. Um, it's not his fault that the referee stopped

the fight when he did. He didn't make that call. So don't blame him for that. And yes, was he emotional afterwards? Yeah. If he would have spat on the corner, that would have been a problem. Him going over, is it the, is it the best

thing in the world? Nah, probably not. Is it the worst thing in the world? No, it's absolutely not. It's I want my fighters, my favorite fighters to have some emotion, to feel something, to know that he needed to win that and to prove a point.

And could you imagine if he would have gone the distance with Liam Cameron? Imagine it would have been 10. Could you imagine the crap that he would have received? Here he was, he put it into overdrive, he got the win and now he can move on. And Liam kind of stole our hearts.

He was great on the program. He's a fun guy to root for. He's got a great story. He had his moment. But now, now Ben can move on. And so the question is, who does he move on towards? Who do you book him against next? If you're Ben Shalom and boxer, what do you do with him now?

Because there's a big spotlight on this young man. And I saw some fans even say like, go to the States. They'll appreciate you more over there. I say, heck yeah, come to the States. I don't think he's as big of a draw here. I think that's kind of crazy, but we'll take Ben Wittaker. I'd love to have Ben Wittaker fight over here. Ultimately, how do you match him? Because that was just his 10th pro fight. Yeah, it's crazy. One thing that we've got over here though, is that we've almost got a perfect sort of stagger of levels when it comes to the light heavyweight division.

So there's easy fights to make to see if he is British level, which I think he is, then go and fight the British and Commonwealth champion, Lewis Edmondson. That's an easy fight to make. Edmondson wants to fight. Why not do that? If you come through that, then you can go up a level

and fight the likes of Craig Richards. Again, just to see where you are. And then you can go up another level, Oatsey, yard. And then the top level, I guess, is Callum Smith. So we can actually quickly, very quickly find out where Ben is in the next 12 to 18 months because we've got so many light heavies here. And we've got so many that fit into certain categories British level, European level, world level and very elite world level. So Ben's going to have an easy job of matchmaking in bench along this is and also because he's a draw and because people want to beat him. I don't think it's going to be difficult to find fighters to fight him. And I think they're going to want to fight him now because he still is quite raw.

As you say, it's only 10 fights and he's still learning his way over Andy Lee. So if you want to get Ben Whittaker, you better get him now. Because I do think in 12 to 18 months, three or four more camps of Andy Lee, he's going to be a very special fighter. I still have nightmares after seeing what Fabio Wardley did to Frazier Clark last time out with his, his jaw just being sort of rearranged there. So I was really curious to see how he would look in his return fight. He looked great.

Done and dusted in the first round. I thought he looked phenomenal. Your thoughts on his performance. Yeah, he looked really good. It was another sort of referee in howler maybe the referee jumped in a bit too quick, Ebenezer Tette actually pushed a referee off like, no, no, I'm okay. What are you doing? Although, you know, Fraser Clark, 20 stone landing, big right hands, the referee's got to look out for his safety. But I, like you, was very

concerned with Fraser. Um, I went into the ring after that Fabio Wardley fight and I made a beeline for Fraser just to look at him and he looked in a very, very bad way. The type of way where I thought, okay, maybe that's it, or at least a year out, it's been six months. So he's actually returned back very, he's come back quicker than Fabio Wardley. So it was a good win. It was a confidence boosting win. And now we kind of waits to see what's going to happen with David Adelaide and Jimmy TKV. He wants to go and get the British title. He wanted to try and get it from Fabio Wardley. He was unlucky in the first fight,

but he thinks he can beat either of those two guys. I think he has one more because that fight was so quick over the weekend. One more and then you wait for the winner of David Adelaide and Jimmy TKV. Can we go back to this Shakur Stevenson topic for a moment because it's a funky one on a couple of levels. All of a sudden we thought maybe Stevenson

and Zepeda wasn't gonna happen. All of a sudden we thought maybe Stevenson and Zepeda wasn't gonna happen. All of a sudden we thought, I don't know, there was some sort of misunderstanding between Shakur and Turkey, I'll shake. And then all of a sudden we find out about this card on July 12th, here in New York City, all the major venues are booked. That doesn't mean that it can't happen

in like Central Park, for goodness sakes. They're doing a show in Times Square next weekend, but it's the day after the, the Netflix card, Katie Taylor, Amanda's Round of Three. It's on the same day as the, you know, much rumored Dubois, Usyk three or Usyk Dubois three card in, uh, in Wembley. And then all of a sudden with all of a sudden

this stuff with Eddie comes out, him, Matt room, it wasn't that long ago where he was like the new, you know, the new signing, the fresh new toy that they brought out. He only, he only promoted him for one fight because the original debut got canceled when he got hurt. Are you surprised that it seems as though we are headed towards a divorce between Shakur and Matrum after just two fights?

Yes. Um, that's the simple answer, yes. Just because it seemed like it was all fantastic. I mean, Shakur's been over here, he's been to some of Eddie's gyms over here, or at least the gyms of fighters that Eddie looks after. He's done some sparring, he sparred the likes of Cameron Vong and Eddie was there and everyone was smiling. I think Shakur's spoken about Eddie in glowing terms, like he's now got a promoter that actually

promotes him and pushes for him and says all the right things and pushes all the right buttons. So he felt like it was just a match made in heaven. Eddie's been looking for that big American star and Shakur kind of fits the bill perfectly, right? Because I still think Shakur has got levels to go to become that proper household name that sells a million pay-per-views. And it almost seemed like it was going steadily. Yes, okay, maybe it wasn't supposed to be Josh Paddly. That's not Eddie's fault. And

then it's kind of hit a bit of a brick wall, which honestly makes no sense. I didn't see it come in. I saw the Edgar Balanga one come in. I didn't see this come in. But as Eddie said there, he still, you know, Eddie still believes there is a fight contract that he has with Turkey and Shakur that includes two more fights. Williams Apeyda will be an Eddie fight, I'm guessing. So I don't know, man. Boxing is the wild, wild west. Honestly, dude, it's honestly, you know, they say, you know, if you want loyalty, get a dog. Like if you want loyalty, boxing is the wrong sport for you. So I think promoters and fighters are now finding this out. I just find it a crazy story.

Yeah, crazy how quickly things turn. It seems like things are going well with Boots Ennis and Eddie and Matt Roome. And I thought we would see at least more than two fights because they were so excited to have him. Top Rank did a, I thought a pretty damn good job of building up Shakur Stevenson. The end was a little bit, you know, a little bit clunky there, but I don't really think it was Top Rank's fault if I'm being a hundred percent honest.

So let's see what happens. What a card, by the way, you mentioned Edgar Berlanga fighting your friend, Hamza Shiraz in a fight that kind of came out of nowhere, right? Yeah, I mean, normally you've got your ear to the ground and you can sort of, you can hear whispers about fights sort of being spoken about. You know, I speak to Hamza Shiraz's manager quite a bit

and he did tell me there's gonna be a surprise in July, but I just expected this to be someone, not Edgar Belanger. So there's a couple of like big issues here for Hamza. Number one, he's having to fight in America. Number two, he's getting up in weight. Number three, he's fighting Edgar Balanga, who's a puncher. Number four, he's got a new trainer in Andy Lee.

There's a couple of things and I'm like, okay, you're not gonna do all of these things straight away. And he is. So credit to Hamza. We asked for these fighters to go straight back in after a difficult fight. Hamza's like, okay, let me go straight back in. Hamza wants to become a world champion and he feels like a win over Edgar Ballanga puts

him in a great position to potentially fight the winner of Kennella Crawford. So that's the way he's looking at it. There's a bigger picture for Hamza and he feels like he needs to get straight on the horse, not feel sorry for himself and just take a warm up fight. Give me a killer. Give me someone the American public know and I'll take him out. Alberto Pueyo against Subriah Mathias on that card as well, which is a great one. David Morrell gets thrown on the card.

I think there's like five or six promoters coming together on this card. There's a little Matrim, there's a little Golden Boy, there's a little- It's one of the best cards this year. And it just kind of feels like it just sort of came out of nowhere, right? Like none of these fights and this date was talked about for a moment, but we didn't know what was going to be on it. And now all of a sudden, it seems like that July 11th,

July 12th date, very reminiscent to what's to come next weekend with the card here in New York and then the Canelo card in Ried and then the Naoya Inouye card in Las Vegas on Sunday. It feels like we are moving towards a very big summer, just a couple of weeks before that July 12th card, we will be getting the highly anticipated return of Jake Paul in, uh, Anaheim

at the, uh, at the pond. Uh, he's going up against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., a man who we saw last in action, July of last year. It was on the undercard of the Jake Paul, Mike Perry card in Tampa. He beat former UFC fighter Uriah Hall in a somewhat lackluster affair. If I'm being a hundred percent honest, both men didn't really impress. And, uh, as you mentioned earlier, we thought maybe we were getting Jake versus Canelo, then there were the whispers about Tank Davis and we land on JCC Jr.

Jake doing his best to drum up interest. What did you make of the announcement when it came out? Also by the way, in case you are a UFC fan, that is the same night as UFC 317 International Fight Week. Although I would argue this very much not a crossover fight like some of other Jake fights that we've seen where the MMA fans might be interested this very much a Boxing purist fight. I know that may sound weird, but they are teaming up with Golden Boy Zerdo Ramirez in the co-main event as well What was your reaction when you heard about this on Friday?

Let's be honest. It was a drop down from maybe what we expected. Um, when you hear names like Canelo and I know Gervonta still sounds wild because of the size difference, but even when you hear a Gervonta, you're like, okay, this could be something crazy. Cause he's obviously going for the biggest of the biggest in terms of names. I'm not actually as mad at it as some people. Chavez is a real fighter, or at least was a real boxer, a former world champion. And if he can

somehow get motivated and get in shape, this is going to sound crazy, but he should beat Jake Paul. Like if he's a motivated and in shape, Lulio Cesar Chavez Jr. with the experience he has, and Jake won't be overwhelmingly bigger than him, then he should put up a good fight. I just wonder if he is motivated. I mean, Chavez hasn't been motivated for nearly a decade. I mean, you all see the famous video of his dad just kind of ringside, like just shaking his head of embarrassment.

And if he wasn't motivated 10 years ago, he's not going to be motivated now when he's what 38, 39. But it's actually smart matchmaking. Jake is actually fighting a real boxer who again should beat him, but it's not the bells and whistles of some of the names that we expected. I don't know who I expected, but I almost wanted it to be something a bit left field and crazy. Maybe even like the Mike Tyson, something crazy like that, but unfortunately it isn't. I'm still going to tune in.

I'm still going to tune in. I like the undercard match as well, Dortacus versus Zoto Ramirez. So I'm going to watch. I think it's going to be intriguing. I just hope Chavez trains. I really hope he trains, but I don't think he will. Who do you back in that fight? Jake. I just hope Chavez trains. I really hope he trains, but I don't think he will. Who do you back in that fight?

Jake. You think Jake wins? I think Jake wins. I think Jake, look, Jake's been doing this for seven years. If Chavez takes it seriously, if he takes it seriously, if he says, you know what, I'm gonna give it one last go, I'm gonna go all in, the best of him at 40 against this current version

of Jake Paul. Then Chavez should beat him. Oh really? Okay. 100% Chavez should beat him. Even at 40 considering everything he's put his body through. Even at that, this guy's been boxing since he was a toddler. Yeah.

He comes from boxing stock. He's a former world champion. Like not given about legit world champion. Um, he should be able to beat him. He should be able to show Jake things that he's never seen before. Little moves that you just, Jake's been boxing six years. There's certain things you still want to know and can't learn in that space of time. So, um, Chavez should beat him. But in like, honestly, unless there's a, a big brother style camera in his house watching him, I don't trust him watching him, I don't trust him.

Honestly, I don't trust him. Honestly, someone needs to watch him 24 hours. If they're not, I don't trust what he's doing in between fight camps. You would think you get that, you get that, what's that movie with the guy? It's been a long day. The guy, he gets the golden ticket.

Willy Wonka, you get that ticket. You get that Jake Paul lottery ticket, but he's a millionaire already Yeah, he's a millionaire. He's like royalty like he honestly him and his dad. Maybe not here I know it is his dad. He's royalty in Mexico like he never needed to box like it's a bit like Ben and you bank They didn't need to box but certainly even more so Julio Cesar Chavez He didn't need to do this. So for him, it's not even the lottery ticket money. So I'm sure there's you know, he's not short of money I'm sure the bailiffs are not trying to kick his door down. He's okay So I just don't know the interest but we'll see maybe he can turn the clock back. Maybe

There's a lot of people by the way in the chat who still for whatever reason don't believe that we are live. I don't know why they're obsessed. Are they live? Are we not live? Why would we not be live? Here's me proving that we are live. What are you gonna do? Shout out to Jeff in the chat who writes in right now,

moments ago, what a great show today. Thank you for drowning out my beautiful girlfriend's pointless conversations today. Hashtag joke, hashtag kind of not a joke. There you have it. If we're not live, how am I reading this right now? There you go, there you go, always live. Hey, by the way, speaking of the chat,

they did ask this question a lot today, and so we might as well address the elephant in the room. A lot of people are very upset, including myself, that you were not a part of the proceedings earlier today at the Grand arrivals. Anything that you would like to say about your involvement this week in the U-Bank Ben festivities? You know, I don't want to do it. I don't want to disappoint fans who might think, because I saw some people in the chat saying it's okay, Adi will be there tomorrow. Adi will be there for the press. Adi will be there.

I don't want to disappoint fans who expect me to be there. I won't be there. I won't be there. I'm not part of the team for a five week, which is, I get it. Some people are disappointed. Some people might be happy. I don't know. Some people might be happy, but I won't be part of the team this week.

It's still a very, very, very good team. Darren Barker, Barry Jones, Tony Bellew, Carl Frampton, I believe Jamie Ward will be doing some stuff as well. I don't know who the presenter is but it won't be your boy Addy. So yeah, what can I tell you? What can I tell you, eh? Don't make me cry on the show, Ariel. No, I won't make you cry. I'm upset about it, but it is what it is. I will just say we joke sometimes about the face of Dazon. You are the face of Dazon. When there's a big fight happening on Dazon, you need to be there.

You have to be there, you should be there. When there's a big fight of historic proportions happening in the UK, you have to be there. You are a part of that fabric, you are a part of that DNA, and you have earned the right to be there, and you deserve to be there. You are the best at what you do. And so I am disappointed to hear that you are not right to be there and you deserve to be there. You are the best at what you do. And so I am disappointed to hear

that you are not going to be there. I don't think that it's any kind of knock on you. In fact, I think people will miss you even more. And sometimes absence makes the heart grow even fonder. You don't need that sentiment, but I'm very disappointed because only you could put this fight, the history, the lineage, the family history, these two men who are fighting on Saturday

into proper context and keep the show moving along. People don't understand how difficult it is to do what you do, to be that traffic conductor up there and move everything and someone's talking in your ear and get to point A and point B and then get back and throw it to here. It's a mess of a situation and it's a very tough job that only a few people could do. Certainly in the sport of boxing, a limited number of people could do, and you are the best at doing that. So I'm disappointed to see this and hear this,

but I don't think it's going to stop you. And you'll be right back in there, wherever you decide to be next, where you deserve to be hosting, presenting, as you say over there, in the studio, as you like to say, doing your thing. So I hope this, for whatever reason, I hope this doesn't deter you in any way, shape or form, because it is no knock on you and your skills and how good you are at your job. Thank you. That's very, very kind of you. Honestly, it means a lot coming from you, obviously someone that I've looked up to for a number of years.

And no, look, it won't deter me. So many big shows coming up. So many stadium shows as well. Obviously this one being on the doorstep stings a little bit just because, again, Nigel Ben, one of my favorite fighters, I've covered, as you say, their dads, I've covered the sons as well.

But, ah, decisions are decisions. And by the way, commiserations to Jeff, the sons as well, but um Decisions the decisions And by the way commiserations to Jeff who now writes in the chat after hearing me read out his comment He says that he is now in the doghouse and she's very mad at him Yes, he did she heard Ariel read out the comment and just like that I'm back in the doghouse She heard Ariel read out the comment and just like that I'm back in the doghouse. Oh, well. Jeff, don't worry, Jeff. Hey, I had to prove that we were live. Yeah, you didn't believe us, Jeff. You were collateral damage.

Yeah, I'm sorry. By the way, I know you're very high on the undercard before we go. Do you want to shout out for someone who, you know, it's a very UK-focused undercard with some tremendous fighting and that's the way it should have been because they're trying to sell 65,000 or so seats on Saturday and it sounds like they're very close to doing so. Is there a fight or two that you're very excited on the undercard, very excited about I should say? Yeah, Sheff Clark versus Vidar Reilly. I think Eddie mentioned it's going to walk first, which is crazy, which goes to tell you just how good a card this is. Sheff Clark is coming

off a defeat in Monaco a few months back, but he is the British champion. He didn't lose his belt, obviously, because it was a European title that he was going for last time out. So he's the British champion and he's taken on a guy called Vidal Reilly, who a lot of people know because of his association with KSI a couple of years ago, but he's a very, very good fighter. He actually goes to my gym, Vidal Really, so I see him quite a lot. I'm fond of both guys.

It's one of those fights where I'm fence-sitting, I can't pick a winner. And it's not because I know both, but it's because both of them could win. It's a fantastic matchup. Genuine 50-50 fight, this one. It's going under the radar a little bit, obviously because of the magnitude of Yubeng Ben,

but I think it's starting to slowly sort of creep between the cracks. I think people's starting to slowly sort of creep between the cracks. I think people are starting to now sort of pay attention to it. You've got two former world champions in action as well. Chris Billim Smith against Brandon Glanton. Chris Billim Smith, what's left? I was there for that fight against Zerdo last time out and he got hurt in that fight quite bad. And look, I think Chris is a warrior that's going to have to have one of those fights where he digs deep again and goes into the well. Will there be anything in the well? That's my And look, I think Chris is a warrior that's going to have to have one of those fights where he digs deep again and goes into the well.

Will there be anything in the well? That's my worry for Chris Billings-Smith against Brandon Glanton, who's coming off a couple of good upset victories away from home. Liam Smith, former world champion. What's left with Liam again? Another fighter that's kind of been there and done it, right? It's been a world champion. He takes on an unbeaten fighter called Aaron McKenna who has only really just stepped up to this level.

This is a guy that has only done a couple of 10 rounders so it's a big step up for him but is he catching Liam at the right time? And then we've got Anthony Yard versus Lyndon Arthur. Anthony Yard frustrates a lot of people over here because I think everyone knows how good he is and what Anthony Yard does unfortunately, he fights a Kovalev or Batorbiev, puts in really good performances and then fights a D-list guy. And we're like, well, no, don't go that far down there, go to a B-level guy. And in the NARF, he's fighting someone that he's one on one with. So this is the trilogy to set it all. And if Yard wins, maybe a Boazzi, maybe a Callum Smith, maybe a Ben Avedez. So a lot on the line for Anthony yard to almost like Ben Whittaker, not just

win, but win impressively. Perhaps a silver lining to not working the card is that you can make a prediction for the main event. And so what are you feeling? What are you feeling? Oh dude. Um, and, and by the way, I know you have relationships with, with the two of them and maybe you want to abstain. I, I, I respect that. Can I do that? I can do that. Oh, you can say, I don't want to put you on the spot. No, no, it's not worth it. Uh, I don't like making predictions. I start, I start getting texts and messages from both counts. And I'm like, you have,

you have a winner in your, in your mind. 100%. Okay. Do me a favor. All right. Do you have any, do you have any all right? Do you have any pencils there? Do you have any pieces of paper? Write it down, write it down, okay? And then next week, you have nothing, golly. Yeah, sorry. Okay, how about this? How about this?

Text it in our chat, and then if you're right, next week we'll give you props. Okay, okay, great. In the meantime, while you do that I do want to thank our good friends over at Mob land over at Paramount Well, it's for this sponsoring. What do I get? Do I get anything? Do I get like no, but I was gonna pretend that there In this well any screen in some t-shirts or something? Can I see episode 5 before it comes out on Sunday? What do we get this you get this right here on the screen? And and and you also get me saying that they are sponsoring our parting shot in in actuality

They are not but I'm just pretending since we have a sponsor I'm throwing that into the deal because we love them no money or anything. Don't get any money. I think someone's getting money, but No, I think it is I think it's getting money, but. Oh, wait, look, look, look, see. Not me, not me. The Hauwani family. No, no, no. Is this what it is? No, I think. Is this what it is? Season tickets to Nottingham Forest. Oh, that'd be nice.

Can you speak that into existence? That would be nice. No, let's go to our parting shot, our final segment of the day. Who is it? Who is it? Oh, he was, dare I say, he was clinical out there. He was working like an engineer out there.

You know what I'm talking about? Like an electrician out there. Look was working like an engineer out there. You know what I'm talking about? Like an electrician out there. Look at Josh Padley. Come on. The jokes. Oh, you tricked me. Oh, what'd you think? What'd you think?

When you said he was working, I thought you was leaning towards Ben Whittaker, the surgeon. Oh. I thought that was your kind of, the surgeon sort of thing he was doing. Well, you know what? You're a hundred percent right, but at some point you will pick up on the fact

that we can't show footage from other networks. So there's never going to be a non-DZone stoppage in the parting shot. I was hoping by episode 22 you'd figure that out. No, it's Josh Padley with the win over Marco, but none of it. Okay, we need to sort this out. We need to sort this out because we want to show everything. We can't just make a parting shot with the Zone fighter when we know there's a better parting shot from somewhere else. It's the Zone parting shot. What'd you think of Padley?

Were you impressed? I was, I was, I was. He had a few hundred fans there as well. Oh, nice. And look, I said, because obviously I did the show and I was like, he's now walking into the ring as a favorite. His last couple of fights has been the underdog. He's now a full-time fighter.

He's going to have his next couple of fights as a favorite. So he needs to get used to that. But I love his story, man. Honestly, this is why they say don't get ready, stay ready. And this guy stayed ready, got the call, did okay against Shakur Stevenson, right? A pound for pounder. And now look, even Shakur tweeted something about him as well. So everyone's getting behind the story and who knows, could he get to that world level

sort of fighting level where he's actually legit world title challenger? I don't know, but I'm going to enjoy the story. As am I. He's an easy guy to root for as well and I was happy to see him get back on track. And what a bond he has formed. Wish, of course, Stevenson, I see him, you know, giving him props on social media six, seven months ago. Probably never heard of Josh Padley

and here he is now rooting him on. So great to see as well. All right, we're out of time, Ade. It's gonna be a fun weekend. Sit back, relax and enjoy it all. And the best part about it is we're back next week to talk about that. Chris Eubank Jr., Connor Ben. April 26th, it's actually finally going to happen. Four days away now from a fight that we have been talking about for about four years. Hopefully, let us knock on wood.

Nothing happens between now and Saturday They make the walk they figure it out and let's see if your prediction is any indication Golly, we're in for a fun night on Saturday night for now though We say goodbye for Eddie Hearn for the great the best in the business ariola depot and for myself and our whole team this is Adéla Depo and for myself and our whole team. And Jeff. And Jeff as well. And Jeff. Shout out to Jeff.

Work through it my man, we got your back for the whole team here in New York City. Thank you so much for watching. We appreciate you all so very much. Enjoy the fights. We'll talk to you next week. Thanks for watching!