Ben Shalom has challenged Eddie Hearn to sit down with him to talk business after revealing they have never spoken before.
The BOXXER chief has come under fire for advising his fighters to withdraw from certain ordered bouts against members of Hearn’s Matchroom stable.
Last year, BOXXER’s Frazer Clarke was pulled out of a proposed British heavyweight title clash against Fabio Wardley, formerly of Matchroom.
At the time, Shalom stated that Clarke ‘hadn’t done enough rounds’ in his professional career to warrant jumping straight into a 12-rounder – and so booked his client into a pair of 10-round fights against Mariusz Wach and Dave Allen before taking the Wardley bout last weekend.
Most recently, BOXXER’s Adam Azim was ordered to defend his European super-lightweight title against surging Matchroom prospect Dalton Smith only for Azim to vacate his belt and pursue a fight with Harlem Eubank instead.
Shalom was grilled on the decision to have Azim fight Eubank rather than Smith as well as his strained relationship with Hearn when he joined Jim White and Darragh MacAnthony on talkSPORT on Thursday afternoon.
After admitting he had never spoken to Hearn before, Shalom challenged his promotional rival to meet with him.
“I challenge them, we would love to sit down all at the table,” he said, “It’s never been to do with Matchroom or the platform.
“Fabio Wardley vs Frazer Clarke had to do with Clarke having six fights and only having fought a six-rounder. Nothing to do with Matchroom.”
Earlier this week, Hearn accused Shalom of ‘ducking fights’ with Matchroom boxers following the collapse of Azim vs Smith.
When White and MacAnthony brought up the accusations, Shalom insisted that he’s made decisions for the betterment of his fighter’s careers rather than to prevent cross-promotional bouts from taking place on rival platforms.
Shalom added: “Look at the Frazer Clarke and Fabio Wardley situation, the amount of grief, the amount of attention, the amount of scrutiny that that decision came under.
“And then we sat here after a night like Sunday and it’s quite obvious that speaks for itself. My duty is to my fighters.
“Anyone in boxing, any ex-boxer knew that was a good decision when it happened.
“They didn’t have to wait for Sunday night to think, ‘Oh my God that was a gruelling fight, that was 12 rounds.’
“Thank God Frazer Clarke had had a bit more experience because otherwise, he might not have known where he was at fitness-wise.
“In the same way, it has to be the right time for Adam Azim and when he weighs up the options on the table, he has a potential Eubank fight.
“We have to create a superstar and we’ve got a decision to make.
“Do we choose a Eubank or do we choose Dalton Smith? Don’t get me wrong, both are tough fights, Dalton Smith is a tougher fight.
“I think at this stage in his career, it would be the wrong decision.
“I’m not saying he would not win right now, but in three or four fights time, as we have seen with Clarke and Wardley, both fighters are earning a huge amount more money and it’s a much bigger fight.
“Not only was Clarke thankful for what happened on Sunday night, but so was Wardley…
“Fighting a Eubank is gonna take Azim to superstar level.
“Not looking down in a profile sense and fighting a very tough fight very early on in his career…
“Jordan Thompson was slung in against Jai Opetaia, what’s that done for his career? He hadn’t even fought at English level.
“Smith vs Azim will be one of the biggest fights in British boxing, sell out an arena and possibly be PPV – they’ll earn five or six times what they would if it happened next.”
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News Summary:
- Ben Shalom challenges Eddie Hearn to sit-down after being grilled on Adam Azim vs Dalton Smith
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