Matchroom promoter and controversial YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul have had a unique and precarious friendship over the last couple years. But now the banter between the two has taken a turn for the worse, after Jake Paul’s claims that Hearn has been paying judges.
In an interview with Boxing Social, Hearn implied that he doesn’t enjoy taking legal action against anyone, but in this instance believes it is required.
“I hate all that. But at the end of the day, sometimes you’ve got to teach these people. You’ve got two options really. You can chin him or sue him. I’m not around him and I’m not going to chin him anyway.”
Hearn also poked fun at the lack of knowledge behind the allegations made by Paul, who is relatively new to the sport from a business perspective. Paul claimed that Hearn was paying judges such as Glen Feldman, to favour his fighters on the scorecards, but didn’t realise that the judges are not chosen by the promoters.
“It’s so idiotic and it’s actually disrespectful to the sport, that he [Paul] knows nothing about. Firstly, he says, ‘why does Eddie Hearn keep using these judges?’ I don’t ‘use’ any judges. The commission selects all judges.”
“Glen Feldman is one of the best judges, speak to anyone in the sport. He [Jake] doesn’t know what he is talking about and to make those allegations really p*ssed me off and actually upset me. It’s actually led me to take it further and I want an official apology from him and if he won’t then we will see what we have to do. But I’m not having our name and business defamed.”
It remains to be seen whether Hearn will get that apology from Paul.
