“Every promoter is a scumbag”: Chris Eubank Jr

Chris Eubank Jr. doesn’t mince words. When he calls someone a “scumbag,” he means it, and he’s got plenty to say about why. At a press conference for the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol fight, with UK Boxing promoters Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn sitting right in the room, Eubank took the opportunity to speak his mind. He didn’t hold back.

Asked why he chose to sign with Ben Shalom’s BOXXER stable after stints with Matchroom and the Sauerland brothers, Eubank’s answer is blunt: “Because every other promoter out here is a scumbag. That’s why.” It wasn’t just lip service either; he had names and reasons to back it up.

“Frank Warren’s been lying and cheating his way through Boxing for the last couple of decades,” Eubank said, looking Warren dead in the eye. “He sued me for a couple hundred thousand a few years ago, so obviously I was never going to go with him. The guy is a scumbag.”

Warren, not one to let an insult slide, shot back with, “Do we have to listen to this scumbag? Why didn’t you fight Hamzah Sheeraz, scumbag?”

But Eubank wasn’t finished. Turning his attention to Eddie Hearn and Frank Smith of Matchroom, he accused them of pushing for him to fight Conor Benn, despite knowing Benn was on performance-enhancing drugs. “They still wanted me to fight Conor Benn knowing he was on steroids. Scumbags.”

It wasn’t just a random rant. To Eubank, these aren’t minor grievances. He sees the behavior of Warren, Hearn, and others as fundamentally undermining the sport. Contracts that lock fighters into terrible deals, promoters pocketing more than their share - all of it erodes the trust between a fighter and their promoter. And that trust is something Eubank values.

But it wasn’t all accusations. Eubank found time to praise Turki Alalshikh, the man behind his upcoming fight against Kamil Szeremeta in Saudi Arabia. “I would say the only promoter that I know for sure isn’t a scumbag is His Excellency Turki 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 is a man of God and a man of religion. That’s what is most important to the people of Saudi Arabia.”

For Eubank, this is more than just business. Alalshikh, to him, represents a new kind of promoter, someone focused on putting together great events while ensuring fighters are treated with respect. “He just wants to put the biggest fights on, the best events on, and pay fighters what they are worth. As a fighter, it’s a blessing to be in boxing at this moment because this is the first time we have ever had a promoter like this in the history of boxing.”

He even tossed a bit of love toward Ben Shalom, ending his fiery monologue with, “Oh, and Ben Shalom is a very cool guy, too.”

The room was left stunned. Eubank had just laid bare the grievances that so many fighters might feel but never voice. Whether you agree with him or not, he’s not one to tiptoe around the issue. In his eyes, the fight game has its fair share of crooks, and he’s done playing nice.