Eddie Hearn insists it was his decision to part ways with Ryan Burnett but he remains on good terms with the Belfast boxer.
Fight fans’ curiosity was piqued earlier this week when it was announced that Burnett had signed a multi-fight deal with Top Rank, joining the likes of his fellow Belfast men, Michael Conlan and Carl Frampton as part of Bob Arum’s stable of fighters.
The move meant that Burnett was no longer attached to Matchroom Boxing and raised questions about what caused the split however Eddie Hearn maintains that the pair remain on good terms but that Matchroom simply didn’t make an offer to keep the former unified bantamweight champion on board.
“He took the fight in the World Boxing Super Series – he got injured in that,” Hearn told iFL TV.
Burnett is made of tough stuff https://t.co/3PVWvA1AQ6
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) November 11, 2018
“Adam [Booth, Burnett’s coach and manager] came to me and said ‘do you have an offer for Ryan?’ and we didn’t make him an offer.
“[Booth] kept me up to speed with everything, Ryan texted me the other day, we wished him all the best, I think it’s a good opportunity for him.”
Burnett, 26, suffered the first defeat of his professional career after badly injuring his back in a clash with Nonito Donaire in the World Boxing Super Series: 118lbs quarter-final last November.
But now that he is all healed up, Burnett is set to move up to super-bantamweight for a WBC International super-bantamweight title fight against Jelbirt Gomera in two weeks’ time in Belfast and while Hearn won’t be watching as a promoter, he’ll be tuning in as a fan and friend.
Welcome to Top Rank, @ryanburnett01! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/5P1PPR7rzz
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) April 29, 2019
