- Chris Eubank Jr posted on May 5 declaring himself 'completely a free agent, no ties, no promoter' after his second loss to Conor Benn — Edgar Berlanga immediately named him as a target
- Ben Shalom responded this week, laughing off the claim — said the BOXXER contract 'hasn't ended, so no', and confirmed he expects to promote Eubank's next fight
- The Zerafa-in-Melbourne September talk and Berlanga interest in Zuffa Boxing both depend on Eubank being legally free — Shalom is saying that is not the case and the courts may have to decide
Two Different Stories, Same Contract
Make no mistake — boxing promotional disputes rarely end in front of a microphone. They end in front of a judge. And this one, between Chris Eubank Jr and Ben Shalom of BOXXER, is heading there fast. Eubank's free-agent declaration on X was clean, short, and unambiguous — 'no ties, no promoter, no limits' — and within seventy-two hours, Edgar Berlanga at Zuffa Boxing had named him as a target and the Michael Zerafa camp in Australia had floated a September pay-per-view in Melbourne.
Then Shalom got asked the question. And Shalom — to his credit, with a smile — said it wasn't true. 'It hasn't ended, so no,' was the exact quote, with a laugh, when asked if Eubank was a free agent. When asked if he expected to promote Eubank's next fight, he gave a confident 'yes.' That isn't the language of a man unsure of his ground. That's the language of a man with a contract on his desk and a legal team ready.
The Conor Benn Context
Let's not beat around the bush — Eubank Jr's free-agency push didn't come out of nowhere. He lost to Conor Benn for a second time, the second loss was worse than the first, and the Eubank camp has had real reasons to look at the BOXXER contract and ask whether the next chapter of his career is best served under the same banner. There are commercial reasons. There are matchmaking reasons. And there is, honestly, the personal-pride reason that no fighter who's just lost to Conor Benn twice wants to be promoted by the same company that put him in that fight.
But pride doesn't void contracts. And whatever the personal calculus, Shalom holds the paper. If BOXXER says the contract is live, the contract is live until a court says otherwise. That's the bit Eubank's social media post can't change.
Why It Matters For Zerafa And Berlanga
The Australia angle is what's making this messy. Michael Zerafa's people have been talking about a September pay-per-view at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne — Eubank Jr versus the local hero, broadcast on Foxtel and Kayo, the kind of fight that could clear half a million Aussie PPV buys without anyone breaking a sweat. That fight requires Eubank to be legally free, or for BOXXER to sign off on a one-fight loan-out. Neither is currently confirmed.
The Berlanga interest is similar. Zuffa Boxing — Dana White's outfit, with the TKO infrastructure behind it — has positioned itself as the landing spot for established names who want a clean break from traditional UK and US promoters. Berlanga signed there. Eubank Jr at Zuffa makes sense on paper. It also makes sense only if BOXXER's lawyers say so.
The History Lesson
Boxing has been here before, multiple times. Tyson Fury and Frank Warren had a similar standoff over the WBC heavyweight contract before they signed the Saudi deal. Anthony Joshua and Eddie Hearn never had a public spat but the negotiating moments were just as live. Errol Spence and PBC, Crawford and Top Rank, Ennis and Top Rank. Every meaningful career has had a contract-row moment. They usually end with the fighter and the promoter agreeing to share — one more fight on the existing paper, the next deal on new terms.
That's the smart move here. Shalom does one more BOXXER show with Eubank — the Australia trip would actually work, with BOXXER co-promoting in Melbourne. Eubank gets his rebuild fight. Both sides save face. The lawyers go home with smaller invoices. Whether either party is in the mood for that compromise is a different question — Eubank's public tone since the Benn loss has been combative, and Shalom's confidence this week suggests he isn't planning to roll over.
The Verdict
If you know, you know — these things almost always settle behind closed doors. The public statements are part of the negotiation. Eubank goes loud to push BOXXER toward an exit fee. BOXXER pushes back to remind everyone the paper exists. Somewhere in the middle, an agreement gets reached and a fight gets announced. The danger for Eubank is that he's thirty-six, he's coming off back-to-back losses to a smaller man, and his market value is the lowest it has been in a decade. Picking a public fight with his promoter at the exact moment he needs his promoter is not the textbook move.
Best guess: there's a September fight in Melbourne. Best guess: it's on a BOXXER undercard banner of some sort, or BOXXER takes a piece for letting it happen. Best guess: nobody comes out of this looking great, but everyone gets paid. Watch this space — it'll move fast over the next fortnight.