Bob Arum has claimed that any decent promoter in America could do a better job than Eddie Hearn.
Beginning his career on the domestic scene as he took the reins of his father’s Matchroom Boxing, Hearn made a name for himself for his showmanship and bold on-camera personality.
As the magnitude of his shows grew with the likes of Anthony Joshua, the Brentford promoter began to branch out, and now has a global deal with broadcaster DAZN to stage events around the world. Of course, a big target market is the US.
It means competing with the likes of 90-year-old Bob Arum, CEO of Top Rank, who once worked with Muhammad Ali but more recently the likes of Tyson Fury and Vasily Lomachenko. It’s fair to say that he’s not a fan of Hearn’s.
When the question came up about the controversy surrounding the price point for Tyson Fury’s title defence against Derek Chisora, Fury’s US promoter defended it.
When Hearn’s prediction of south of 400,000 buys was put to him, Arum told Pro Boxing Fans that his promotional rival knew nothing.
“Eddie Hearn doesn’t know crap. Eddie Hearn is like a joke in the United States. He puts his nose in everybody’s business, and he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He should spend his time promoting his fighters in the United States and in the UK, instead of worrying about everybody else.”
When asked how he had performed in the States so far, Arum wasn’t impressed – which won’t come as a surprise to anyone.
“Terrible. Because he’s not a real promoter. He comes in a few days before a fight, and nobody pays attention. He’s had this huge budget from DAZN, and all he’s done is step on his own tie.”
“Any decent promoter in the United States could do better than Eddie Hearn.”
Hearn’s notable forays into stateside events include taking the wheel for Saul ‘Canelo’ Álvarez in his fights against Billy Joe Saunders, Dmitry Bivol, and Gennady Golovkin for the third time – something he would certainly argue as real promotion.