Eddie Hearn was bizarrely blocked from attending Katie Taylor’s press conference amid his legal spat with Jake Paul – leading to a heated X-rated altercation.
The Matchroom promoter, who oversees Taylor’s career, is involved in a $100million [£92m] legal battle with Paul, with the 45-year-old filing a lawsuit against the American in 2022.
Taylor outpointed Amanda Serrano in their undisputed light-welterweight bout[/caption]
Hearn sued The Problem Child over ‘outrageously false and baseless allegations’ where Paul accused the promoter of paying boxing judge Glenn Feldman following the results of the Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua rematch and Taylor vs Amanda Serrano.
Paul promotes Serrano, and was of the belief the 36-year-old should have had her hand raised as the winner in her split decision defeat to Taylor in April 2022 with the undisputed lightweight belts on the line.
On Friday night, the duo fought in their eagerly-awaited rematch, this time for the undisputed light-welterweight world titles, with Taylor again triumphing on points.
The pair were the chief support to Paul’s bout with Mike Tyson at the DT&T Stadium in Texas, which saw the former ease to a points win.
Following Taylor‘s victory over Serrano, she was called up on stage to conduct the post-fight press conference following another bruising dust-up.
But Hearn was refused entry on his way to the table – leading to an X-rated reaction from Taylor’s manager Brian Peters – as he threatened to boycott the presser.
A behind-the-scenes video published on YouTube by Boxing King Media shows Hearn stating, ‘All right, we’ll leave it’, after being informed he wasn’t welcome.
After he then told Peters and a shocked Taylor that, ‘They don’t want me up,’ the Irishman proceeded to stick up for Hearn – threatening to walk away in solidarity.
He raged: “Are you joking, are you out of your mind? Everyone else gets three people up, don’t be acting the s***.
“Three people go up or not at all. Come on, big boy, make your decision now. Make the decision.”
Taylor’s team were then told, ‘You guys make the decision’, with Hearn firing back: “Oh we will.”
Peters, remaining on the front foot, continued: “Come on, three go up or not at all.
“Your call. Very simple. Make it, come on big boy.”
The officials then suggested that Taylor could go up on her own and speak to the media, but an adamant Peters was not having it.
Brushing past him and heading to the stage, he remarked: “No. She’s going up with the two of us, that’s the way it’s going.”
Hearn then slipped past the officials, where he eventually made it on stage alongside Taylor and her trainer Ross Enamait.
Former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew was quick to praise Peters for defending Hearn.
Replying to a clip of the incident on X, he posted: “That’s proper! Well done Brian Peters for standing on like that!
“So many managers would crumble, but you stood on! Well done.”
Hearn discussed his initial blocking in an interview with Fight Hub TV, where he said: “They said only Katie Taylor is allowed up at the press conference table.
“Everyone else’s team is allowed up, but I’m not allowed up at the press conference table. So the team said, ‘We are not doing it.’ Then we just went up.”
It was an emotionally-charged night for Hearn, who celebrated wildly in the ring once Taylor’s name was read out as the winner.
Discussing his animated antics, he stated: “If they would have won, they would have gone absolutely mental like me.
“I went mental. I made an idiot out of myself. I said to the geezer, ‘If I offended anyone, I apologise.’ But that’s just what it meant to me.
“And I’m never gonna not show that emotion because the journey we’ve been on has just been incredible and I wanted her to win so badly.”
