A discussion of “boxing” can conjure quite different images at the moment.
For some, that’s fights like 27-year-old YouTuber Jake Paul’s highly-publicized exhibition defeat of 58-year-old Mike Tyson in November. For others, the interest is more in actual title fights, such as the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury heavyweight title rematch (for the WBC, WBA, and WBO belts) on Saturday.
Matchroom Sport chair Eddie Hearn, who’s promoting that fight and will be joining the DAZN commentary team, thinks there’s a key distinction between these “real fights” and some of what else happens in boxing, from celebrity exhibitions to title defenses against overwhelmed challengers.
The Usyk-Fury fight (a rematch of Usyk’s May win) will air on DAZN as a $39.99 pay-per-view, with the undercard starting at noon Eastern Saturday and the Usyk-Fury ring walk expected around 6 p.m. Eastern. Hearn will be part of an extensive commentary team, including Kate Scott (née Abdo), Ade Oladipo, Barry Jones, Darren Barker, Adam Smith, Andy Lee, and Emily Austin. In a recent interview with AA, Hearn talked up Matchroom Boxing’s focus on trying to line up the best fights possible, even though it sometimes leads to criticism for them.
“We love sport and we love competition and we love real fights. ” he said “Boxing is a very strange world. The fan base is quite intense, passionate, which we love. But it’s also quite strange in the sense that if you’re protecting your fighter and you’re never taking any risks, you’re bad for the game. But if you’re getting your fighters beat in legacy-defining fights, you get the mickey taken out of you.”
Hearn said they’re approaching boxing differently than others, focusing both on top fights and on growing the sport globally.
“We are definitely a lot more aggressive than other promoters in that space, but it’s serving us really well in terms of making the best fights in the sport,” he said. “We are the only global promotional company in the world, we’re the only promotional company who has significant shows in multiple markets around the world. I think we’re really, really well placed.
“We have a very strong broadcast deal, immensely different territories, which is very important. I think we have, well, we unquestionably have the best stable globally in boxing. And I think we’ve built a nice position and obviously with Riyadh Season and the growth of of boxing in the Middle East, we’re well-placed in that mix as well.”
He said that global focus is a big part of why they struck a deal with DAZN, as that allows them to work with one partner for most territories for most fights. (There are some cases where not all Matchroom cards are fully on DAZN globally, which is partly about dealmaking between promoters, but DAZN is their main focus.)
“We wanted a broadcast partner with a global vision,” Hearn said. “And when DAZN decided to become a global platform for boxing, it was just perfect for us. Because in the past, you sell rights into various different territories and it’s a little bit confusing. I kind of want a universal message when I pitch up to these locations around the world, I don’t want to say, you know, ‘Join us tonight on ESPN+ in America and Sky Sports in the UK and DAZN in Germany and Fox in Australia.’
“It’s just wherever you are in the world, there is one place to watch, and that’s on DAZN. And they shared our global vision.”
Hearn said DAZN is also a fit for his UK-based company as a way to boost their U.S. standing. And that then led to them going with DAZN in the UK as well.
“They gave us an opportunity in the U.S. market as well with a significant budget,” he said. “And then we made a big move in the UK which was to leave Sky Sports, which was kind of the premier sports broadcaster in the UK, for DAZN. …I just love the messaging of one broadcaster wherever you are in the world, and that’s been extremely powerful for us.”
While DAZN has at times stated wider U.S. ambitions beyond boxing, boxing is what they’re largely known for right now. Hearn said DAZN’s boxing focus now isn’t a problem, though. He said what was more challenging was trying to sell fighters on fights available exclusively on a streaming app in the early days of streaming.
“It’s good now because obviously they heavily rely on boxing, and they’ve got a significant subscriber base. But when we started in the U.S., it was very difficult because we were launching a boxing product via an app with a brand that no one had ever heard of in the space. When I was going to the fighters, you know, we had a significant budget, but obviously we were being met with resistance from other promoters saying ‘You can’t go with Hearn, you know, he’s on an app. Like, what is this?’ No one watches an app.’
“And we were trying to convince the fighters that streaming is the future, but at the same time, it was a hard sell. Now every major fight around the world is on DAZN, so it’s much easier. So boxing is very important to DAZN, particularly in America, and that puts us in a very strong position bearing in mind the kind of brand profile that we’ve built in that market.”
Boxing’s long been a part of Hearn’s life. He said he picked up his interest in the sport from his father Barry, who founded Matchroom in 1982 with a snooker focus but quickly took it into other realms.
“My dad was a Hall of Fame promoter,” Hearn said. “And from the age of probably 8, I was at every major show in the UK, you know, I was hanging around with fighters, I was staying at their houses. I was in the gym watching them spar, I was in the changing room when they won, the changing room when they lost.
“And I think anyone that’s been around boxing knows that it just grabs you. It’s such a unique environment with very unique people, and I just found the whole sport compelling and fell in love with it, really. And almost 40 years later, here I am.”
He said all that experience he picked up from being around the sport has helped him during his promotional career, despite skepticism from others.
“I think that when I first got into boxing, in terms of the business, about 15 years ago, you could see the old guard kind of say, ‘Well, what does he know about boxing?’ And it’s like ‘Whoa, whoa, hang on, I’ve seen a hell of a lot.’ I’m a student of the game away from the business as well, and I’ve got a big passion for fighters and for the sport as well.”
Hearn’s promotional experience also means he understands why fights like Paul-Tyson happen. But he said that doesn’t mean he has to like it.
“I get it, you know. I’m a marketer, I’m, I guess, an entrepreneur. I understand the market, I understand trends, I understand people are gonna tune in to watch that fight. I understand there’s a lot of money involved in that fight. It doesn’t stop me being critical.”
“I don’t want to see one of the greatest fighters of all time, you know, a man that is so important to the sport of boxing, go back into the ring at almost 60 years of age to fight a YouTuber who’s 26 or whatever he is, limited as a fighter, but a strong boy, can punch. But Mike Tyson, 25 years ago, Mike Tyson was finished. What do you think, he’s going to suddenly start improving at the age of 60?”
Hearn said exhibitions like that fight with well-past-their-prime fighters are tough for him because they even impact memories.
“I want to remember Mike Tyson as the kid that I was when I was watching this man tear through the sport. I don’t want to watch him slow, old, marking up, getting battered,” he said. “But it’s hard to criticize because you just get called a hater. But that is my honest opinion. I don’t want to see it, I don’t like it, and I don’t think it should be allowed. But I understand at the same time, people are going to tune in. And that’s what I guess it’s about for those guys.”
Despite his criticisms of things like Paul-Tyson, Hearn said he’s thrilled overall with where boxing is at right now, and with the interest in it.
“I actually think it’s in a great place. I think everybody always kind of talks about ‘Oh, boxing’s dying, boxing’s this.’ Yet more people want to invest more money into the sport, more broadcasters want to get involved than ever before. There’s more shows than ever before and more territories than ever before. Obviously now there’s a significant investment from Saudi Arabia as well into the sport.
That Saudi investment, including Riyadh Season, has been controversial given many of that regime’s actions. But Hearn said it’s crucial to put together the best fights.
“For me, the sport is driven by big fights. So the bigger the better, right? And what we’re seeing at the moment is big fights, we’re seeing them consistently. Riyadh Season is now coming up to a year old, and look at what we’ve seen so far. We’ve seen Fury and Ngannou, we’ve seen Joshua and Ngannou, we’ve seen Joshua-Dubois, we’ve seen a huge show in America, we’ve seen Beterbiev-Bivol, we’ve seen Fury against Usyk. The run’s been incredible.
“And that has real positive ramifications around the world. So for me, I think their involvement has been incredible. Obviously, it’s been incredible for the fighters as well, because now you’re seeing huge paydays. Obviously financially it’s been a big success for us as well. So yeah, it’s been a major plus.”
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“Commercially, it’s not as big as Canelo against Crawford and Fury against Usyk, but what it is is the very elite of the sport,” Hearn said. “It needed the money to come along and, and give the fighters what they deserved, and Turki Al-Sheikh and Riyadh Season did that.”
All in all, Hearn said he thinks boxing is in a great place in terms of driving conversations.
“You know, the sport is sexy. You go online, in terms of the narrative online and the conversations, it’s right up there, it’s one of the top sports in the world. I think in America, we’ve found that you have a huge number of sports, plus you have the popularity of the college system as well, and we know that we’re further down the pecking order in terms of that sport. However, in the UK, the sport is right up there, you know, arguably second to Premier League football.”
“Everybody loves talking boxing, everyone’s got an opinion. And sometimes, on occasions when it’s successful, it’s kind of like a real-life WWE: the storylines aren’t made up, they’re real-life stories. And I think it will always be compelling. We always make sure that there’s a conversation, there’s a debate, and fight fans are extremely passionate.”
