Hearn: Boxers' Purses Completely Out Of Control; Part My Fault, DAZN's Fault

[Primetyme199]

By Keith Idec

Eddie Hearn accepts partial responsibility for the purse surge in boxing over the past two years.

The British promoter also anticipates that trend will end while operating in a global economy damaged badly by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing USA and DAZN, one of Matchroom’s broadcast partners, reportedly committed an approximate $10 million in purses to Mikey Garcia ($7 million) and Jessie Vargas ($3 million) for the last pre-pandemic main event DAZN streamed February 29 from Frisco, Texas.

Hearn defended driving up purses during a recent appearance on Chris Mannix’s Sports Illustrated boxing podcast because it was a necessary sacrifice for DAZN as the fledgling streaming service aggressively attempted to make an immediate impact in boxing, particularly in the United States. That approach enabled DAZN to sign such established boxers as Canelo Alvarez, Anthony Joshua, Gennadiy Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, Demetrius Andrade, Garcia and Vargas to contracts.

“Well, I know that Bob [Arum] has made it quite clear publicly that that is his intention, really, is to bring purses down,” Hearn said. “And I have to say, Chris, purses have got – I mean, you know the business – they’ve got completely out of control. And listen, part of it’s my fault and DAZN’s fault. They’ve had to come in, they’ve had to make some noise. Bob blamed me [recently]. The other day I was on the phone to him, and he said, ‘Well, it’s all your fault anyway. And before you, it was Al [Haymon].’ And, you know.

“But it’s like, we don’t wanna stop paying fighters great money. They deserve it. But we just need to make sure it’s delivering value, not value for us, but value for our customers. And our customers are our broadcasters. So, you know, we have been in a stage lately where when you’re signing a fighter, if I’m signing a fighter to Matchroom Boxing USA or DAZN, you lure them in, Chris, don’t you, with that first easy fight, you know? ‘Oh, look at that money. Well, I’ve only gotta fight a top-15 guy? Great.’ Now, when you get to a stage where it’s opponents to be agreed, we’ve just got to be in a situation where, you know, we’re not unfair. But it’s not even gonna come down to Matchroom, really. It’s gonna come down to the broadcasters.”
Moving forward, Hearn expects DAZN and other outlets to demand more competitive fights from promoters when required to pay premium prices for content. It’ll be harder, Hearn believes, for higher-profile fighters to secure substantial paydays if they’re unwilling to fight top opponents.

“If I was the broadcasters,” Hearn explained, “in this marketplace, in this environment, in this economy, I would be saying, ‘I want great content. What have you got?’ And the supplier, the rights-holder, will go back and say, ‘The problem is I haven’t got a gate. And, you know, my hands are tied because I’ve only got this budget for the show and I can’t afford a great opponent because, you know.’ And that’s when you’ve got to make it happen somehow. But I’m almost on the side of the broadcaster here, Chris, rather than the promoter, even though I’m a promoter, because I think this is the time. I think, and listen, it might be a time where we all, collectively, try and, you know, shake up the world of boxing and get it right. And maybe there’s some casualties along the way. You know, I’m not talking about fighters. I’m talking about maybe promoters. But I think if we don’t get the model right now – I think the best way to describe it is this is our greatest-ever chance to get boxing right.

“And we have to take this opportunity and we have to do it right. And that could be in terms of fights, that could be in terms of purses, that could be in terms of, you know, contracts, broadcasters, schedules, you know, so many different things. But the key to a great product in fight sports is the fight. And we just cannot afford anymore just to do this guy against this guy down here. You know? And I’ve done it. I’ve done it loads of times on DAZN, because that’s how you bring a fighter into your stable. So, we either have to accept that we may lose fighters, or we might not sign anymore new fighters. But we have to be fair. But we have to say, ‘You’ve got to give value and you’ve got to fight. And this environment now, this economy says you need to be in a real fight. And you’ll get great money for it. But you’ve got to have a real fight.’ ”

[Primetyme199]

Hearn: We Need To Get Tougher With Fighters; Eradicate Easy Fights For Big Money

https://www.boxingscene.com/hearn-we-ge ... ey--149065


Among the biggest challenges Eddie Hearn expects to encounter while constructing a post-pandemic schedule is convincing some boxers to accept difficult fights.

The British promoter anticipates a faction of fighters pushing for tune-up fights before accepting more imposing opponents. Hearn thinks there should be less of those types of fights following the COVID-19 crisis because promoters and broadcasters must present more appealing content for fans who will have an abundance of live sports to watch when leagues throughout the world begin playing again.

“We do need to get tougher with fighters,” Hearn told Chris Mannix for the most recent episode of Sports Illustrated’s boxing podcast. “We do need to try and eradicate the warm-up fight, you know, and the easy fight for big money. And we’ve got to try and be a little bit tougher and go back to them now and say – and the managers and everybody understands it’s not gonna be easy. Everybody’s gonna feel the squeeze a little bit, especially until we get back into the arenas, where we can fill ‘em up.”
Through his company’s partnership with DAZN, Hearn has often overpaid boxers for lesser bouts because the fledgling streaming service paid what it considered necessary purses to lure established and, in some cases, popular fighters away from competing networks in the United States as it tried to make a quick impact in the boxing industry. That practice can’t continue, according to Hearn, in damaged economies where subscribers will want more entertainment value for their money.

“A big problem that all sports are going to have now is the competition, in terms of coming back, and particularly scheduling,” Hearn explained. “You know, if you look at the UK, when we come back in July, we’re going to be bumping into the Premier League football. They’re talking about playing three games a day. You know, you’ve got cricket, all these other sports are creating almost like these isolated environments, with live content coming all day for different sports. So, that’s something where we’ve got to be creative. That also means we have to create the best fights, the best schedule that we can.

“And that’s why when I talk about the easy fights, and the fights that might not be so compelling, it’s really time to give those the big elbow and say, ‘I’m sorry. That’s not gonna happen.’ You know? And that might not be what fighters – not really fighters, but particularly advisers or managers want to hear – but it’s the reality of the situation. So, if you want to take an easier fight or you don’t want to step up and be in a fight that subscribers and the boxing fans want to see, you can wait. Do you know what I mean?”

Hearn thinks that approach will enable boxing, though completely fragmented, to operate like UFC in some cases.

“I feel like we’re moving more, a little bit more towards the UFC model now,” Hearn said, “where it’s going to be, ‘Right. Here’s our schedule. You, you’re fighting him. Oh, I’m not sure about that. OK, no worries. You can wait. Who’s up? You and you, you in? Yeah, I’m ready. They’re up.’ You know? Rather than, ‘Oh, how about this opponent? No, you know, me and my team, we’d like these guys.’ And in the past, we might’ve been too weak to say [no]. But we can’t afford to do that anymore because of the competition, like you just said, not just with other networks in boxing and other promoters, but other sports. So, we’ve got to come back with a schedule that boxing fans and sport fans look at and go, ‘Like it.’ We can’t afford weak fights anymore.

“You know, and that’s one thing that I’m trying to get my head around. I don’t wanna bring boxing back with weak fights. You know, over here they’re saying, ‘You just can’t do a big fight without a crowd.’ Alright, well let’s try. Let’s try and do a big fight without a crowd. You know, UFC just did it. You know, I know it wasn’t the biggest fight they’ve ever done. But it was a big card. So, I feel like if we return with boxing and we rush it back with poor-level content and bad quality fights, it’s gonna do ourselves more damage in the long run, especially against the bigger sports.”

[NoPropaganda 253]

No shit, idiot.

This fucking guy. Quality control is the main issue. The purses could be realistic if the right fights were made and more revenue and eyes fell on the sport both short and long term. Unfortunately there are too many players in the game who talk the talk, but then lose the discipline to hold such a line in order to get over on the next promoter. UFC is boxing in the 20's with their monopoly. Pay what they feel and order the fights. Unless Honest Eddie has a time machine to back to those days or lets say a couple years back when took the baton from Big Al and ran like Dillian Whyte from an eliminator PED free, he sounds like an idiot.

Hell ya it hurts moron. You shot yourself and the rest of the sport in the leg trying to be cool. WTF did you think was gonna happen?

[jeff_lacy_ko]

Its over. Now espn and fox have to pay wilder and fury AGAIN those ridiculous purses and lose money

Dazn bled money and is near insolvent
Pbc has done nothing but burn money
Showtime is all but out of boxing
Espn and fox lost money on a near million buy ppv

It is over. Those huge purses are done. Only fighters that can put up big ppv numbers are getting guarantees.

[gilgamesh]

A guy shouldn't be paid multiple millions for fighting a no hoper?

Wow, it's almost like he's saying something that we all thought all along.

[jeff_lacy_ko]

As long as the billionaires were funding things ridiculous salaries would continue. That is over

[Danielk015]

WOW, Mr Captain Obvious here