‘I wanted to give him a slap’ – Eddie Hearn ready for Simon Jordan clash with pair set for live talkSPORT showdown this week

Eddie Hearn is looking forward to his face-to-face showdown with Simon Jordan live on talkSPORT this week.

Over the past several months, the Matchroom Boxing chief and talkSPORT host have been embroiled in a war of words, which they will now settle in person.

Mark Robinson/Matchroom

Hearn will be live on White and Jordan from 11am to midday on Tuesday, March 21

A large amount of the animosity stems from the debacle surrounding Conor Benn’s positive drugs tests last year.

Jordan was highly critical of Hearn’s handling of the situation as he attempted to proceed with Benn vs Chris Eubank Jr regardless of the BBBofC (British Boxing Board of Control) prohibiting the fight.

The former Crystal Palace owner then called Hearn a ‘coward’ for not facing questions from the media when he eventually did accept that the fight could not take place.

Hearn hit back and a rivalry ensued with a series of back-and-forth comments, including the suggestion of a charity boxing match between them.

Hearn opted not to face Jordan’s questions about the Conor Benn situation on talkSPORT at the time and has not been on White and Jordan since.

Now though, the pair will exchange words in person, live from 11am to midday on Tuesday, March 21.

The Sun

Jordan has been critical of Hearn and the pair have exchanged words indirectly

Hearn told the Matchroom Boxing YouTube channel: “It’s nice to see it’s ‘Hearn vs Jordan’, nice to be the A-side. I’m looking forward to it.

“I didn’t like his comments when they were first made, he said we were ducking serious questions from the media.

“We spoke to every outlet probably in the world of relevance. I just didn’t go on the Simon Jordan show – I went on talkSPORT – because I didn’t like what he said.

“At the time I wanted to give him a slap in all honesty.

“Everything that we did is exactly the same as what Simon Jordan would have done.

“We followed the guidelines and the rules of the British Boxing Board of Control. We let the governing body deal with the situation. Unfortunately I don’t think they dealt with it very well.

“We made mistakes, people made mistakes, but I’m happy to debate it and I look forward to Tuesday. We’re gonna break records for it.

“Listen, I don’t mind giving my time to hit unbelievable numbers for talkSPORT.”