1 hour ago
1
Eddie Hearn was rudely interrupted by Chris Eubank Jr as he tried to pay tribute to the late Ricky Hatton at a press conference on Wednesday.
The promoter and the fighter were gathered at a press event in London ahead of next month's rematch between Eubank Jr and Conor Benn on what has been a hugely sad week for boxing after the death of one of Britain's great fighters.
Hatton was found dead at his home in Manchester on Sunday morning at the age of just 46. His passing is not being treated as suspicious, police say.
Hearn, representing Benn, attempted to pay his respects to the former world champion at the beginning of today's press conference but was incredulously cut off by Eubank Jr as he did so, leading to a heated argument in front of reporters.
'Just firstly, 30 seconds on Ricky Hatton,' Hearn began as Eubank Jr bellowed: 'Come on Eddie, there's no 30 seconds. You know the drill.'
It prompted an understandably angry response from the promoter, who labelled the fighter, son of the legendary Chris Eubank, an 'a**hole'.
Chris Eubank Jr and Eddie Hearn became embroiled in a heated exchange over Ricky Hatton at a press conference on Wednesday
Former world champion Hatton was sadly found dead at his home in Manchester on Sunday
'All I was going to do was say a few words about Ricky Hatton,' he added, 'you're an a**hole, you talk shit, you'll get what's coming to you.'
Eubank Jr meanwhile continued talking over Hearn: 'I'm not going to sit here and listen to anything you say. I don't want to hear any of your words. Let's move on with the press conference, we know the drill.'
Eubank Jr and Benn go head-to-head once again on November 15 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London.
Their last bout was won by Eubank Jr by unanimous decision, who later claimed Hearn and co attempted to 'sabotage' the fight in favour of Benn, who wore a Manchester City shirt at today's conference in memory of Hatton.
Before the childish exchange between Hatton and Eubank Jr, who was no-doubt to blame, there was also a montage of the Mancunian played in tribute to him.
When tensions had calmed down post-conference, Hearn described Hatton as 'the last of a rare breed of boxers'.
'I think it was so important to say something,' he said, 'That’s a big platform with a lot of people listening. People need to understand the importance this guy had on British boxing and to people individually.
'As you saw up there, it’s quite a toxic business and in a toxic business for no one to have ever said a bad word about Ricky Hatton just shows you what kind of individual he was.
Conor Benn wore a Manchester City shirt in memory of Hatton at the conference
Hearn described the Mancunian at 'the last of a dying breed' of boxers
'He was the last of a rare breed of boxers and athletes who built their popularity without social media. Without a content team following them around and film certain things as it’ll look good for their imagine.
'He was just a pure soul with a clean heart that a city fell in love with and then a country fell in love with. He was a guy that gave all of him time to anyone. It doesn’t matter whether you were a CEO of a broadcast company or the person cleaning up afterwards, he gave the same time and respect to both.
'In a world where he needed help himself, he always chose to help others first. We saw that even recently. He filmed videos and sent videos in the last week or two weeks to people who were struggling saying keep at it, keep fighting. He was an incredible person.'
Hatton was found at his home in Hyde, Manchester,early on Sunday morning after alarm was raised when he failed to attend a boxing show on Saturday night.
Just days before his passing the boxer had seemed in good health in videos shared to his Instagram from the gym. Hatton had been set to make a highly-anticipated return to the ring this December.
He was tragically due to board a flight to Dubai on Monday to sign a contract to confirming the bout against Eisa Al Dah.
Hatton's body was discovered by his long-serving manager, Paul Speak (left)
Speak lays flowers outside the boxing legend's home following his death
Revealing details of the fighter's last days, BBC commentator Steve Bunce told 5Live: 'He filled me in on a few details about the Friday night and the Saturday night. On the Saturday night, Ricky hadn't gone to a boxing show.
'Speaky had found out Sunday morning. Speaky went round and let himself into the house. In fact it was Paul Speak who found his great friend and the people's champion Ricky Hatton.
'Speaky deserves a little bit of love. You can't even begin to imagine. It's a 25-year relationship they've had as his commercial and business manager, but more than that it's his close friend. It's his confidant.
'I can't think of another relationship like it in sport to be perfectly honest. So Speaky was the one that found him.'
The boxer's cause of death is yet to be revealed.
