Chris Eubank Jr. attended yesterday’s press conference to herald in the upcoming October 12th card set to be headed by Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol. In what may be considered a legendary rant, Eubank Jr. heavily admonished several promoters [who will be co-promoting the Oct. 12th card] that were attending the presser, with praise only directed towards Riyadh Season organizer Turki Alalshikh and Eubank’s current promoter, Ben Shalom―the latter of whom has had his own questionable past within the sport of boxing.
While Artur Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KO’s) and Dmitry Bivol (23-0, 12 KO’s) are set to headline at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 12th, they were overshadowed yesterday on September 25th as Chris Eubank Jr. (33-3, 24 KO’s) ― who will be fighting on the undercard in a middleweight (160 lbs) non-title bout versus Polish contender Kamil Szeremeta (25-2-2, 8 KO’s) ― publicly and openly smeared promoters, not hesitating to call them out by name.
“Why [I joined] Boxxer?” Eubank stated after being asked in the presser why he chose to join up with British promotion Boxxer, “Because every other promoter out here is a scumbag. That’s why.
“We’ve got Frank Warren behind me―[who’s] been lying and cheating his way through boxing for the last couple decades. [He] sued me for a couple hundred thousand [sterling pounds] two years ago, so obviously I was never gonna go with him.
“Kalle Sauerland had me locked up in a terrible contract for the last few years, squeezing money out of me at every opportunity. Scumbag. Eddie Hearn, Frank Smith, they did everything they could to try to make this fight against Conor Benn. [They] still [wanted it to go] ahead after knowing that he was on steroids. Scumbags.
“I would say the only promoter that I know for sure isn’t a scumbag, is His Excellency Turki Al-Sheikh [Alalshikh]. This is a man who isn’t trying to take money from fighters. He isn’t trying to use lawyers and accountants to lock fighters up in slave contracts. He’s a man of God, he’s a man of religion. That’s what’s most important to the people of Saudi Arabia.
“He just wants to put the biggest fights on, the best events on, and pay fighters what they’re worth. And as a fighter, it’s a blessing to be a fighter at this moment because this is the first time we’ve ever had a promoter like this in the history of boxing. Oh, and Ben Shalom’s a pretty cool guy too.“
Chris Eubank Jr.’s words will be sparking a lot of interest due to his blatant and public attack on promoters; something that has become a rarity in the sport. Many examples he highlighted, particularly the mentioning of fighters being in put up in “slave contracts”, does depict a grim reality behind the business of boxing that promoters always seek to obscure.
Though the details of Eubank Jr.’s contract with his former promoter, Kalle Sauerland―head of Wasserman Boxing―remain obscure, Eubank has notably done little of note during his stint with Wasserman, with his only relevant fights having been against Liam Smith―who was signed to Boxxer during both fights. Eubank also expressed his outrage on social media when Sauerland attempted to match him with Italian 160 lbs champion Etinosa Oliha (21-0, 9 KO’s), which could have led to his eventual departure towards Boxxer.
These sorts of “slave contracts” are not uncommon in boxing with the common denominator usually being the lack of fights some fighters get. Mikey Garcia notably split with Top Rank in 2016 due to not being offered a fight in two years, while Andre Ward was forced to sue his promoter due to allegedly not getting money he was owed. Then are the more modern-day examples involving fighters aligned with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) who have departed or complained due to a lack of fights or quality opposition.
Eubank’s history with Queensberry Promotions founder and owner Frank Warren further explains his vitriol towards promoters, but the circumstances of his claims of being sued have not been put within the proper context. In 2016, Chris Eubank had been poised to face Queensberry fighter Tommy Langford, but an alleged elbow injury resulted in Eubank withdrawing from the bout.
Warren successfully sued Eubank Jr. afterwards according to BoxingScene, forcing Eubank to pay hundreds of thousands of sterling pounds [as he mentioned during the Sept. 25 presser] in 2017. This presumably means Eubank Jr. was unable to confirm the extent or the validity of the injury that had made him pull out of a match against Langford.
Chris Eubank Jr. also has a notable history with Matchroom Sports chairman Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing [the boxing department of Matchroom] CEO Frank Smith, particularly with Hearn who sought multiple times to match Eubank with Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KO’s) despite Benn’s failed drug tests that led to the collapse of a planned match between the two in October of 2022. It should be noted that Eubank’s promoter at the time, Kalle Sauerland, had entertained a fight between Benn and Eubank on multiple occasions himself.
Though Chris Eubank Jr. was hitting at some stark truths of how the boxing operates behind-the-scenes, his apparent belief of Ben Shalom being “pretty cool guy” ― and therefore not a “scumbag” in his eyes ― has already been disproven. Liam Smith himself came out to scathe Shalom for being a “piece of s***”, while other examples in boxing point to Shalom being no different than other promoters.
In that sense, General Entertainment Authority (GEA) chairman and Riyadh Season organizer Turki Alalshikh does match the perception of what a promoter should be, as Eubank stated, as his plans and efforts in boxing appears to be more selfless and fighter-friendly. However, Alalshikh is not considered an official boxing promoter, with his work moreso pinpointing the Saudi official as a facilitator and organizer, working to bring high-profile sporting events to [and outside] Saudi Arabia as part of the country’s broader push for international recognition in sports and entertainment.
