“I really don’t like him” – Eddie Hearn told Dmitry Bivol what he hoped to see him do to Artur Beterbiev in their fight

Eddie Hearn is definitely not a fan of Artur Beterbiev.

This is understandable, however, given that Hearn will be promoting Beterbiev’s rival, Dmitry Bivol, when the two men face off in an undisputed light heavyweight title clash on June 1, and that he was sitting at alongside his fighter at the launch press conference in London.

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The Matchroom chief previously promoted Callum Smith against Beterbiev in January, with the Russian winning by a brutal stoppage, a result Hearn did not predict.

And having had some choice words to say about “Beast” at the time, he put his personality forward when speaking to the media.

He said: “To be honest, I don’t really like him. I think he’s arrogant.

“Rightly so, because he’s incredibly dangerous and he really believes in himself. But we’re here to talk about the fight.

“I told Dmitry Bivol after the faceoff, ‘Let’s fuck him up, let’s take him to school.

“I really want to beat him, I thought Callum Smith was going to do the job and neither was Anthony Yarde, unfortunately.

“It shows how good Beterbiev is, but Bivol is special and it will be a tough fight for the undisputed world championship.”

Hearn has been quick to praise Beterbiev’s boxing abilities in the past, but their surprise rivalry will add some “needle” to the showdown.

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The 40-year-old champion may have taken issue with Hearn predicting he would be knocked out before, but he is once again confident in his ability to get the job done.

Beterbiev could seal a huge fight against Jai Opetaia if he beats Bivol, in a cruiserweight move where he could become world champion at another weight.

He is extremely confident of achieving this. “I’m not old, only 39. I’m not old.

“Of course, it’s always different. The fight is different. You prepare differently.

“I don’t learn [studying] him for a long time. I just watched a few of his fights for the first time. We’ve only just started learning it. We will prepare.

“It’s important to look for the knockout yes, but I just want to win and I will win.”

Meanwhile, his opponent Bivol is hoping to go undisputed, which could provide him with the opportunity to achieve the feat at two weights, if he moves up to 168 pounds to face current titleholder Canelo Alvarez.