Video (iFL TV)
Eddie Hearn took time out from promoting the Bellew-Haye rematch in London, to talk with iFL TV about future plans in the USA, and his ambitious schemes for Matchroom Boxing to become the biggest name in world boxing.
Hearn no longer sees other UK promotions like Frank Warren's Box Nation, Cyclone Promotions and Hennessy Sports as his direct competition. He is now measuring himself against the 'Big 3' in the US - Oscar De La Hoya's Golden Boy, Bob Arum's Top Rank and Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions.
His comments are mainly a response to the latest press conference for Tyson Fury's comeback fight where his rival promoter Frank Warren spent a lot of time criticizing Hearn.
Tyson Fury recently snubbed Eddie Hearn to sign with Frank Warren's Box Nation. When signing with Matchroom would probably have been the easiest route to a Anthony Joshua super fight. Featherweight Carl Frampton, who is hugely popular in his native Northern Ireland, also decided to sign with Frank Warren over Matchroom last year.
The rumour is that Frank Warren has been willing to offer much bigger signing fees than Eddie Hearn. Who prefers to build his fighters up over a year or two before a big payoff on PPV down the road. Hearn's is probably the better strategy from a business perspective. As it means he doesn't shoulder as much risk by paying out millions in signing fees up-front to fighters who might not perform or get injured. Which may lead to law suits and a big loss of $$$ for Hearn.
Eddie Hearn is the promoter for unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, who is the most marketable name in UK boxing by far. He also recently signed Amir Khan after his long hiatus from the sport. The other well known fighters in Hearn's stable are Kell Brook, Dillian Whyte and Tony Bellew. Hearn also promotes Daniel Jacobs and Jarrell Miller in the US.
Apart from Anthony Joshua, who looks set to become a genuine cross-over star internationally if he continues on his current trajectory. The other boxers in Hearn's stable are not really elite level. They might be popular in the UK. But away from these shores most of them are not on the radar of casual fans.
Amir Khan is still a big name, but his brand is faded after bad losses and a lot of inactivity in recent years. Even though he proved he is still a financial draw in the UK a couple of weeks ago, by selling out his comeback fight at the ECHO Arena in Liverpool. Which was a 1st round KO win for Khan in a mis-match against the lightly regarded Phil Lo Greco.
Kell Brook had the potential to be a star in the US a few years ago. But he also suffered a couple of bad losses in a row against elite level fighters Gennady Golovkin and Errol Spence Jr. Where he fractured the orbital bone in both eye sockets, so he is now fighting to rebuild his career.
The other popular names at Matchroom Boxing are Tony Bellew and Dillian Whyte. Neither of which are ever likely to be elite level, even if they do sell a lot of tickets right now in the UK.
Tony Bellew is a classic underdog-come-good story of a domestic level contender who beat the odds to capture a world title at cruiser-weight. He then went on to stop David Haye in a real heavyweight barn burner, when no one expected Bellew to be competitive.
David Haye is not the fighter he once was though, mostly due to several freak injuries that have derailed his career time and again. If Haye still has anything left in the tank then I think he will beat Bellew this Saturday, which opens up some interesting opportunities at heavyweight for Haye to finish out his career.
Tony Bellew is kind of stuck at heavyweight. He knows he's not talented enough as an athlete to be competitive with genuine super-heavyweights like Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder or even Dillian Whyte. If he loses on Saturday, he can go back to cruiser-weight and challenge for his old title due to his status as emeritus champion for the WBC.
A lot of the fighters in Hearn's stable are now reaching the end game point of their careers. He does have a few good prospects like Joshua Buatsi, Lawrence Okolie and Josh Kelly. But they are all still untested at world level. Frank Warren also has some very promising young fighters like Daniel Dubois and Anthony Yarde in his stable. So it remains to be seen which of these talents has what it takes to carry the next generation of British boxing into the future.
If Eddie Hearn is really serious about taking his promotion to a global level. He will need to make big offers and be a lot more aggressive in the US market to sign some of the top fighters. But his competition in America like Al Haymon, Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya obviously won't take too kindly to the upstart Brit trying to muscle in on their turf..