Eddie Hearn has revealed he told a rival promoter that he would knock him out ahead of Anthony Joshua‘s heavyweight title fight with Daniel Dubois.

Hearn is promoting the Wembley showdown on behalf of Joshua, but has admitted he threatened to trade blows himself with another promoter at Thursday’s final press conference.

The 45-year-old was seen having an animated conversation on stage with BOXXER promoter Ben Shalom while undercard fighters Joshua Buatsi and Willy Hutchinson – two fighters that Hearn doesn’t promote – faced off.

Hearn revealed Shalom took exception to him taking the limelight, leading to the pair having a heated exchange.

‘He came up to me and he said “why are you up here for this fight?”, Hearn told iFL TV. ‘And I said, “I’ll knock you out!”

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Eddie Hearn (right) and Ben Shalom (left) were seen having an animated conversation at Thursday’s final press conference

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Hearn has revealed he threatened to knock Shalom out in the heated exchange

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Hearn is promoting Anthony Joshua for his heavyweight clash with Daniel Dubois

‘And I felt really bad and I do have to apologise to him because it was when he started quivering and he went white like Casper the Ghost that I actually felt terrible.

‘And as he was just joking to me, it was just a throwaway line. He is just learning, and if he thinks that was serious I do apologise because I felt bad after and I saw his face.

Hearn then pretended to make a phone call as he mocked Shalom’s reaction to his shock threat.

‘Hello, is that the Guildhall?’ Hearn began. ‘Yeah, you had a press conference last night. Is that lost and found? Yeah, you haven’t found Ben Shalom’s a***hole, have you? Floating around Guildhall anywhere. If you find it, can you let me know? Cheers, thanks.’

After ending his pretend phone call, Hearn continued: ‘He did a jokey comment, I had a little joke. Sorry if he took it seriously. But I actually do feel bad because his lip was quivering and all over the gaff.’

Shalom came on the scene with BOXXER in his mid-twenties, an even younger age than Hearn was when he first started in boxing.

Hearn was asked whether he saw any similarities between himself and Shalom, and did not hesitate with his answer.

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Shalom is Joshua Buatsi’s (left) promoter, and will hope his charge can get the better of Willy Hutchinson (right) tonight

‘Absolutely not in the slightest,’ he replied. ‘Ben Shalom has aspired to be me forever. He’s Eddie Hearn from Wish.’

Shalom has two fighters on the Joshua vs Dubois undercard, with his light-heavyweight charge Buatsi looking to edge closer to a world title shot, while Tyler Denny is aiming to pull off a shock against exciting middleweight prospect Hamzah Sheeraz.

Meanwhile, Hearn will be keeping a particularly close eye on two super-featherweights that he promotes going toe-to-toe in Anthony Cacace and Josh Warrington.

His attention will then turn to the main event as Joshua bids to become a three-time heavyweight champion by beating Dubois.