Eddie Hearn threatens to 'knock out' Daniel Dubois' promoter in fiery face-to-face

Eddie Hearn told Daniel Dubois' promoter he'd 'knock him out' during a fiery exchange ahead of tonight's blockbuster fight with Anthony Joshua.

The duo will go head-to-head for the IBF world heavyweight title in front of a sold-out Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.

There's plenty on the line for the heavyweight duo, including a potential shot at the Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk rematch winner, which is due to take place at the end of the year.

Understandably, tensions have been high throughout the build-up, with the pair having to be separated during Friday night's weigh-in.

But that animosity has transferred over to the promoters as well, with Dubois' main man having claimed Hearn threatened to 'knock him out'.

Speaking ahead of the bout, Shalom revealed: "He said he was going to knock me out.

"I thought he wasn't rattled? I said as a joke, 'I didn't realise this was your fight,' during Joshua Buatsi's face-off.

"It was literally a joke. But yeah he wasn't too happy... To be threatened to be knocked out by a guy who's nearly 50 was an interesting one."

Not one to be kept quiet, Hearn, who turned 45 in the summer, replied to IFL TV: "He asked Why are you up here for this fight?' so I said 'I'll knock you out'.

"I felt really bad and I do have to apologise because it was when he started quivering and went white like a ghost that I actually felt terrible.

"He was just joking to me, it was only a throwaway line. But he's learning and if he thinks that was serious, I apologise because I felt bad after when I saw his face."

Any hint of sincerity from Hearn quickly disappeared though, when the Brit mimicked a phone call coming through on his mobile, before imitating a conversation by saying: "Hello... is that the Guild Hall?

"You had a press conference last night... is that lost and found? You haven't found Ben Shalom's a******e floating around Guild Hall. If you find it can you let me know."

A pointed job at Shalom's, in Hearn's eyes, lack of bottle.

Given the tone of the comments between the two, they might've liked getting in the ring with each other this evening, but they'll have to surrender the privilege to Joshua and Dubois.

Joshua weighed in at 252.5lbs while Dubois scaled at 248.6lbs, with the main event ring walks expected just before 10pm BST.