Ben Shalom and Eddie Hearn were involved in a heated exchange during Thursday’s press conference
Eddie Hearn has played down his spat with rival promoter Ben Shalom ahead of Anthony Joshua’s fight with Daniel Dubois on Saturday night.
Hearn and Shalom exchanged words on stage during Thursday’s press conference, with Shalom saying he was left ‘completely shocked’ after Hearn threatened to knock him out.
Shalom was at Guildhall on Thursday to promote Tyler Denny, who is fighting on the undercard of Joshua vs Dubois, initially questioned why Hearn was stood on stage when he does not represent Denny or his opponent Hamzah Sheeraz.
Asked about the confrontation with Shalom, Hearn told Boxing Social: ‘I think it was a bit of a joke, really.
‘He just came up and said, ‘what are you doing in this picture?’. And I said, can’t remember what I said, something like, ‘I’ll knock you out’, or something like that.
‘I felt bad because he froze like a ghost and now he’s doing all these interviews saying he got threatened.
‘Sorry, he obviously comes from a different world. But, listen, he’s very excitable, he’s learning in the game and I wish him all the best.
‘He said he was joking at his comments, so was I.
‘We’re all working on the card, we don’t have two fighters together, I’ve not dealt with him, I haven’t even said a word to him and he just came up to me on stage and said that yesterday.’
Eddie Hearn claims his threat towards rival promoter Ben Shalom was a ‘joke’ (PA)
Ben Shalom says he was ‘shocked’ by Eddie Hearn’s comments (Getty)
When asked for his version of the row, Shalom said: ‘He did [threaten me]. I was completely shocked.
‘Not really the way I handle myself or I would ever operate, I’m not going to sink to that level.
‘But yeah, to be offered to be knocked out by a guy who apparently isn’t rattled is an interesting one.
‘But as I say, we’re going to keep building our business, we’re not going to be threatened, we’re going to keep signing our fighters, we’re going to keep building them to this stage and I’m very proud of where we’ve come. To having that much of an affect is a good sign.
‘He shouldn’t be threatening people, threatening to knock people out, he’s nearly 50, he needs to grow up, I think everyone can see what’s going on.’
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