The British boxing scene is crowded with talent and competition as it welcomes more investment at the top-level than ever before.
With Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom partnering up with streaming service DAZN, their place at Sky Sports being filled by Ben Shalom’s BOXXER, and stalwart Frank Warren of Queensberry continuing to grow BT Sport’s output, UK fight fans rarely find themselves without some fight to watch on a weekend.
Whilst Matchroom’s partnership with Anthony Joshua, the former unified heavyweight champion, dominated the domestic scene for years, Tyson Fury’s regaining of the crown has brought some of the big nights back to Frank Warren – with two huge stadium shows in 2022 that saw their champion successful.
Of course, the heavyweights are just one piece of the puzzle, but a good example nonetheless.
Boxing King Media put it to Hearn that some in the sport were now regarding Queensberry’s efforts as the best domestically, and he was complimentary of his rival.
“I think Frank Warren’s a very good promoter. I feel like everybody’s come out firing in 2023.
I think we needed to – and if you look at the opening of the year, you had Eubank against Liam Smith, Beterbiev against Yarde, and Wood against Lara. I think all three of us have come out with strong events.”
“I think I have my own opinions on who’s the best promoter in the world, but he’s stood the test of time.”
For his part, Hearn welcomes the challenge and promises a big 2023.
“I’m happy to be compared and have competition with others. For me, it’s not something you make a decision on based on two months, it’s something you make a decision on based on ten years or five years.
I feel like what we’ve done in the last two, five, ten years has been incredible in British boxing. The competition is there, which is great, but we’re up for the challenge.”
“I think we do need to do a bit better in the UK as well. I think we’ve been a little bit unlucky. We lost Benn-Eubank, which would’ve been the biggest fight of 2022 and put us in a great position.
But we come back in 2023 firing, particularly with Anthony Joshua.”
Whoever people want to name as the UK’s best, fans will just hope that the fights keep coming.