Eddie Hearn has defended himself against accusations that Chris Eubank Jr was put in serious harm’s way by the rehydration clause in the contract for his fight with Conor Benn.

Eubank and Benn met in a long-awaited middleweight clash at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 26 and the pair served up a 12-round thriller that lived up to the pre-fight hype in the main event of The Ring’s first ever fight card.

It was Eubank who got the nod when all three judges scored the fight 116-112 in his favour but the Brighton man praised the performance of Benn, who he admitted he had underestimated.

However, it was argued by some that Benn had only managed so much success because he faced a weight-drained Eubank on the night. The pair had agreed to meet at the 160lb middleweight limit but it was also contractually agreed that neither man could weigh over 170lbs on the morning of the fight.

Eubank, who has now had 32 of his 38 professional fights - including his previous five - at middleweight, had tried hard to make the weight with videos posted on social media showing his gruelling cut. Indeed, so extreme was the footage that Eubank is currently under investigation by the British Boxing Board of Control.

Even so, he missed weight by less than an ounce on Friday and was fined £500k for the infraction as per the terms of the contract. He did, however, weigh-in successfully on the morning of the fight.

Hearn has come under fire for insisting upon a rehydration clause seemingly designed to deplete Eubank on the night but the Matchroom boss has now given his side of the story.

“It’s baffling,” Hearn said during an interview with The Ring. “Do people not do their research?

“Middleweight has been his weight for the four fights before this. He fought at that weight against Kamil Szeremeta in October and is the IBO world champion at middleweight. Is it tight for him at 160lb? Probably, yeah. It’s f***ing tight for everybody.

“But the rehydration weigh-in on Saturday was supposed to be anytime after 8am. He laid in bed and actually didn’t wake-up until about 11am. That’s fine, that’s his choice, but if you’re really struggling you don’t lay in bed until 11am. You get it done as early as you can then refuel and rehydrate for as long as you can.

“But then he comes on the scales with all his clothes on and one of his rascal Louis Vuitton jackets, which are heavy, and comes in half a pound under. So minimum, he was 2.5lbs under the 10lb rehydration limit.”

The pair are contracted for an immediate rematch and Turki Alalshikh, the head of Riyadh Season and chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, told The Ring’s Mike Coppinger that he is hopeful that the pair will fight again back at Tottenham in September.

“The rematch is at middleweight and the rehydration clause is still all the same in the contract,” Hearn added. “The terms can’t be changed at this point.

“But don’t forget both sides have separate contracts and they’ve said they can talk about weight in their contract. Well, not in our contract you can’t.

“We will see what happens but the rematch is not optional, it’s contracted. Right now, I am 90 per cent sure it will happen next. There is always a chance that someone can get injured but aside from that, they will fight next.”