WBO Super-Lightweight World Champion Teofimo Lopez has gunned for Eddie Hearn and DAZN, attacking the business model of the streaming service that the Matchroom Promoter partnered with back in 2021.
Hearn moved his stable away from Sky Sports to box on DAZN as part of a mammoth five-year-deal that reportedly gave the Brit a one-billion-dollar budget.
Since then, the plans of scrapping pay-per-view events in favour of a regular subscription surface have somewhat derailed, with a multitude of bouts taking place on DAZN PPV at an additional cost to the usual monthly fee, sparking some criticism from fans.
On social media, Lopez responded to one subscriber who said he was cancelling because it wasn’t worth the $225 yearly fee.
@EddieHearn 😮💨 like I said.. no more than 5 years! It’s going to happen whether you sterling silver spoon feed shmuck likes it or not! #AnalyticsDontLiehttps://t.co/KqPgJbyXSb
— Teofimo Lopez (@TeofimoLopez) November 8, 2023
“Eddie Hearn, like I said.,. [it will last] no more than 5 years! It’s going to happen whether you sterling silver spoon feed schmuck likes it or not!”
Asked about the dig by Boxing Social, the promoter said:
“I don’t know why he replied to me, I didn’t even say anything … You’re talking about a guy that boxed once in 2021, twice in 2022 and once in 2023. He’s a young man. And all because he has an unrealistic expectation of his commercial value.”
“Do yourself a favour, get out and fight, make a couple million bucks, build momentum and get a mega fight”
“DAZN will be over in five years? That’s actually a really bad for you Teofimo, because if there’s only one person bidding your number’s gonna go down.”
“I think he’s a great character, but strange comments.”
DAZN also partner with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, and recently secured rights in territories like Canada for the Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou bout.