diff --git a/src/learner.cc b/src/learner.cc
index 44e56c732..a7391b018 100644
--- a/src/learner.cc
+++ b/src/learner.cc
@@ -256,9 +256,6 @@ class LearnerImpl : public Learner {
       attributes_ = std::map<std::string, std::string>(
           attr.begin(), attr.end());
     }
-    if (metrics_.size() == 0) {
-      metrics_.emplace_back(Metric::Create(obj_->DefaultEvalMetric()));
-    }
     this->base_score_ = mparam.base_score;
     gbm_->ResetPredBuffer(pred_buffer_size_);
     cfg_["num_class"] = common::ToString(mparam.num_class);
@@ -307,6 +304,9 @@ class LearnerImpl : public Learner {
     std::ostringstream os;
     os << '[' << iter << ']'
        << std::setiosflags(std::ios::fixed);
+    if (metrics_.size() == 0) {
+      metrics_.emplace_back(Metric::Create(obj_->DefaultEvalMetric()));
+    }
     for (size_t i = 0; i < data_sets.size(); ++i) {
       this->PredictRaw(data_sets[i], &preds_);
       obj_->EvalTransform(&preds_);
@@ -445,9 +445,6 @@ class LearnerImpl : public Learner {
 
     // reset the base score
     mparam.base_score = obj_->ProbToMargin(mparam.base_score);
-    if (metrics_.size() == 0) {
-      metrics_.emplace_back(Metric::Create(obj_->DefaultEvalMetric()));
-    }
 
     this->base_score_ = mparam.base_score;
     gbm_->ResetPredBuffer(pred_buffer_size_);