Former boxer Amir Khan has tipped Conor Benn to become the next pay-per-view star in Britain but says promoter Eddie Hearn is “holding him back”.
Benn called out Khan for a fight before the 35-year-old announced his retirement from fighting last week. He hung up his gloves after a February loss to rival Kell Brook, who has also since retired. Khan believes that Benn could be huge but needs to target fighters that would shock fans – rather than the likes of him and Brook.
“In the UK, the next PPV star? I think Conor Benn could make it,” Khan told Pro Boxing Fans. “I think Eddie Hearn’s holding him back a bit too much. He’s calling all these big names out – myself, Kell Brook. We’re done.
“He needs to go and prove himself like when I went and fought Marcos Maidana. I fought Maidana when nobody expected me to win. He needs to fight somebody like Virgil Ortiz, he needs to beat somebody, prove himself. He could be a PPV star.
“Then you have ‘AJ’ [Anthony Joshua], an amazing PPV star; [Tyson] Fury, one of the best fighters to come out of Britain; up-and-coming fighters, the Azim brothers, they’re beasts. They’ll go far, especially the younger one. Very skilful, very quick, very smart, very dedicated.”
In April, Khan spoke about fighting Benn and it was promoter Hearn who had propositioned the British fighter to take him on.
“I’ve just come here to enjoy the champ and to enjoy the boxing,” Khan said at the time, standing in the ring after Benn beat Chris van Heerden.
“Eddie told me to get in the ring, but I’m just here to enjoy it. The champ put in a great performance and I’m sure he’s going to have a great career. He’ll go far in life and we’ll support him.”
Benn is set to take to the ring again in the summer after knocking out Van Heerden last time out.
