Hearn gives replace on Conor Benn v Manny Pacquiao as London choices emerge

Eddie Hearn says Conor Benn may compete towards Manny Pacquiao within the UK. The 27-year-old has loved a wonderful begin to his boxing profession, having received all 23 fights and he beforehand held the WBA Continental (Europe) welterweight title.

However, his profession stalled following his two failed drug tests in 2022 prior to a fight with Chris Eubank Jr, which was subsequently cancelled. Benn has had two fights since then, the primary being a win over Rodolfo Orozco by way of unanimous choice in September 2023, earlier than beating Peter Dobson in the identical style in February.

Now Benn is keen to step again into the massive time and he’s eager to do this towards one of many biggest boxers of all time. Hearn appeared on iFL TV to debate the potential combat and revealed that London may host the bout ought to the 2 boxers come to an settlement.

“We all want to make that fight. Manny flew in for talks and to watch the show in Saudi, so that’s what we’d like to do,” the boxing promoter stated. “We are waiting for the Conor Benn announcement from the appeal. We were told within two weeks, it’s now nearly for weeks.

“So any day we’ll be getting the result of that appeal. It’s not in our hands, it’s in the hands of the panel, and that will determine where Conor’s next fight will be. Quite frankly, we could do Conor Benn vs Manny Pacquiao in a stadium in London. It’s a fight I like. He’s [Pacquiao] an eight-division world champion, I think it’s a 50/50 fight at this stage, to be honest.”

Both Benn and Pacquiao engaged in a face-off in Saudi Arabia at Thursday’s weigh-in for Anthony Joshua’s combat with Francis Ngannou. Though Hearn says the bout might be held in London, there isn’t a probability of that taking place till Benn is cleared to combat within the UK.

It was introduced in July he had been cleared by an unbiased National Anti-Doping Panel however the BBBoC and UK Anti-Doping appealed the choice to elevate his provisional ban. The boxer’s final two flights have taken place within the US consequently, and Benn stated he thinks Saudi Arabia is a extra possible place to stage a possible bout with Pacquiao.

“We’re out here to enjoy the boxing, me and Manny Pacquiao,” Benn instructed DAZN. He’s a legend, an icon. There are ranges to this sport, he’s achieved all the pieces that any younger fighter may want to obtain. If it occurs, I’m certain it’ll be right here in Saudi.” He added: “I say to that, he [Pacquiao] wants to fight me,” he stated. “He’s talked about my identify, his supervisor [Sean Gibbons], but in addition it’s not like I haven’t chased the 147s. How many instances have I received to say the 147 names? 

“And there’s movies on the market saying that they don’t need the combat, that I’m not a large enough identify, or I’m not ranked or no matter – [Derek] ‘Bozy’ Ennis was saying… so what would you like me to do? We referred to as for [Mario] Barrios, we referred to as for [Yordenis] Ugas, we referred to as for [Keith] Thurman… So it’s like, what would you like me to do? If a legend needs to share the ring with me, it could be my honor.”