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Promoter Eddie Hearn says the only hurdle to making a fight between his client Conor Benn and Manny Pacquiao fight is whether or not his team actually decides to offer the Filipino icon a deal.
Hearn, the head of Matchroom, which promotes England’s Benn, the embattled welterweight who tested positive twice last year for banned performance-enhancing substance, offered a highly affirmative response to a recent query regarding the status of a Pacquiao-Benn showdown. It all depends if Benn and Co. decide to go with Pacquiao as opposed to two other potential opponents in Chris Eubank Jr. and Kell Brook. Otherwise, there appears to be no business obstacles to Pacquiao-Benn.
“It’s ready to go,” Hearn said of the potential fight in an interview with FightHubTV. “It’s ready to go. We’ve got a couple of site offers. It’s whether we select that fight out of the three.”
Added Hearn, “Manny Pacquiao wants the fight badly.”
Pacquiao-Benn has become the topic du jour ever since Benn was reinstated into the welterweight rankings by the World Boxing Council last month. Whether or not Pacquiao gets the nod, BoxingScene.com understands that Benn will headline a card in Abu Dhabi on June 3.
Benn is unable to fight in the United Kingdom because he does not have a license with the British Boxing Board of Control, with whom Benn has continually butted heads. Benn relinquished his license after the initial revelations of his positive drug tests. And though he is currently under investigation by the Board and United Kingdom Anti-Doping, Benn has repeatedly refused to cooperate with them, even going so far as to threaten legal action.
While Pacquiao has appeared to be the frontrunner for a fight with Benn, Hearn has repeatedly said his preference is for his client to fight Eubank Jr., the British middleweight who is coming off an upset loss to Liam Smith earlier in the year.
Benn and Eubank Jr. were originally supposed to face each other last October but several days out from the fight, Benn was revealed to have failed a drug test, which, after much brouhaha, led to the cancellation of their highly regarded 157-pound catchweight fight. Several weeks later, it was revealed that Benn had tested positive for the same substance (clomiphene, a fertility drug that boosts testosterone levels in men) earlier in the year.
Eubank Jr. was reported to have activated his rematch clause with Smith, but according to Hearn there is nothing firm in place, meaning he could possibly pivot to a fight with Benn. (Smith-Eubank Jr. II would be promoted by Boxxer, a rival to Hearn’s Matchroom.)
“No he’s not signed up,” Hearn said of Eubank Jr. “He wants to make the fight, but he wants to make more money than he was getting for the last time, but he’s been beaten.”
Another fighter Hearn has proposed as a potential opponent for Benn’s return is retired welterweight Kell Brook, who has hinted at a ring return this year. However, Hearn said he wants to preserve that fight for the UK.
“The Kell Brook fight is a tremendous fight, but that is a fight for the UK,” Hearn said. “Obviously, with the legal stuff going on right now with the British boxing Board of Control, I don’t think his next fight will be in the UK. But it’s definitely between those three who Conor Will fight next.”
Hearn said he expects to make an announcement on Benn’s opponent this week.