Can King Stay King? Eddie Hearn

He has the power, Sky Sports. He has the growing stable of prospects, world class amateur prospects. He has belt holders, two. He has backing from Matchroom, but, is he putting on the best fights?

I love Eddie Hearn but as of now I'd have to say... NO.

Tyson Fury was better than Blackpool, far more entertaining, more of a spectacle.

GBP have entered the UK with a very exciting, high profile card. Especially when you add in the A-Force factor. BOMB SQUAD!!!!

Canelo vs Trout. No question it was huge.

Martinez vs Murray. Despite a pi** poor under card, a huge fight nonetheless.

The only card arguably worse was Warren's. Which seemed flat, crowd wise, and well, it wasn't great was it?

Thoughts on Eddie's future? Can he get blockbuster fights that don't feed lambs to the slaughter? AKA: Rees vs Broner. Adam Smith was being coy on ifilm the other day. Implied a lack of unity.

Froch is a gift alright but who else is there?

He only signed Brian Rose!! What did you expect on that Blackpool card!? Kirkland, Molina, Lara!!??

He got Rose a "name" for his first fight under the matchroom banner. Nobody expected any more, or any less.

Pi55 poor attempt at nit picking. The Warren card with Cleverly, Walsh etc was worse. Rose and Selby made the Blackpool card better

At least Alcine has achieved something, Karqusi or whatever he's called??? AND NATHAN IS THE WORLD CHAMP!! Yet he's fighting the woeful opponent.

A shot alcoholic in Harrison against Walsh, a fat bin lid vs a fat useless Chisora and Enzo spaggetti legs against a bum is as bad as any card you'll see.

The Rose card is the beginning of building Rose's name. He is now in the top 10 on Boxrec due to that win. Not a bad move from Hearn.

For God's sake, lads....

Two replies in and already the thread has descended in to chaos.

Just keep it clean at both ends, please.

And Davide, in case you're wondering, there's no way that last post of yours could stay. Write it again by all means, just without the insults.

Sorry Chris I wasn't meaning to insult David. Just giving my views on what that blackpool card was about.

I didn't see what was wrote back. So no harm done.

Out of interest Chris, why use "lads"?? What the hell did I write that created chaos!?

Just trying to nip it in the bud, Reborn, hence why I said lads and not just Davide. I thought you'd seen his reply and, if you had have done, I'm pretty sure you'd have wanted to respond in kind (I would have done!) so just wanted to put the stoppers on it as soon as I could. Your post was fine in general mate, aside from the p-poor bit!

I think promoters are measured on big events. Warren pisses all over jimmy Carr in that respect. The upcoming Kessler fight isn't even half the size of Eubank V Benn 2.

He does put it all on the line Frank, I'll give him that. But, he has to because he stinks the gaff out with so many weak shows that don't sell out when a big one comes along it's all or nothing. Own worst enemy him, pride.

Chris thank you. One thing I will say though is I was banned this week and given no reason for it. I sometimes feel like I am on trial without

A: committing a crime.

B: a lawyer.

That's all I'm saying.

Back to boxing.

Well according to chris you threw insults at me just for debating a point you made. So hardly that innocent. But I guess its what your known for so whatever floats your boat.

Ps: Warren most certainly does not put it all on the line, he's had about 8 shows cancelled in the last 18 months becuz the likes of Cleverly could fill a water tank. He has no world class talent (very few euro standard) and the likes of Frankie Gavin have no appeal whatsoever. Hearn creates stars and matches his fighters a lot tougher than fish face.

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:Hearn creates stars and matches his fighters a lot tougher than fish face.

Give us a few examples of this if you would? Surely you are not including Brook, Froch etc?

Warren has created all the recent superstars in British boxing bar maybe David Haye and Carl Froch.

My point is NOT that Eddie is effective at building a fighters profile. It's that his shows are not world level of late but are being sold that way. Comparisons of other shows put him near the bottom. GBP have really impressed me of late.

seanmichaels wrote:Warren has created all the recent superstars in British boxing bar maybe David Haye and Carl Froch.

I wouldn't call any of them superstars, but he has created the biggest names in UK boxing.

azania wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:Warren has created all the recent superstars in British boxing bar maybe David Haye and Carl Froch.

I wouldn't call any of them superstars, but he has created the biggest names in UK boxing.

Hatton and Calzaghe were superstars.

Fair enough.

seanmichaels wrote:Warren has created all the recent superstars in British boxing bar maybe David Haye and Carl Froch.

And they have all left him to go and face decent opposition as opposed to tin cans. Also, when you are talking about recent superstars, we only really have Calzaghe, Hatton and Khan and the two above, don't we? Nobody else comes to mind (which can be very small I granted) who is in the same league really.

davidemore wrote:My point is NOT that Eddie is effective at building a fighters profile. It's that his shows are not world level of late but are being sold that way. Comparisons of other shows put him near the bottom. GBP have really impressed me of late.

That's because there aren't too many world level fighters in the UK is it not?

GBP and Top Rank etc work from the home of Boxing (the US) where fighters of all nationalities are based and a far greater pool of talent. Pretty naive to think any British promoter could put on more than 2 or 3 world level events over a year.

bhb001 wrote:

seanmichaels wrote:Warren has created all the recent superstars in British boxing bar maybe David Haye and Carl Froch.

And they have all left him to go and face decent opposition as opposed to tin cans. Also, when you are talking about recent superstars, we only really have Calzaghe, Hatton and Khan and the two above, don't we? Nobody else comes to mind (which can be very small I granted) who is in the same league really.

Exactly, but it is again naive to think they left him for that reason.

Calzaghe's best win was Kessler, Warren promoted.
Hatton's best win, Tzysu, Warren promoted.

It is more a case that once they become a name they want a bigger share of the pie and by in large fights promote themselves once you win match ups like that.

JC's best wins was Hopkins. Both in terms of boxing and legacy. Kessler may have been the better fighter buy Hoppo is the name. In 20 years Kess will be forgotten. Hop won't be.

Hopkins won that fight tho.

I had JC winning. Close fight.

azania wrote:JC's best wins was Hopkins. Both in terms of boxing and legacy. Kessler may have been the better fighter buy Hoppo is the name. In 20 years Kess will be forgotten. Hop won't be.

That's because he'll still be fighting. Hopkins vs Jones Jr 3 in 2033, winner fights Steve Collins.

I'm not quite sure what is expected of Hearn to be quite honest,

As fans people, especially on this board, often moan about the same things all the time. Two of these are that promoters to often stick their charges in with tomato cans and that our fighters are not active enough...this has been something which has been thrown at many young prospects in recent times.

Let's start by saying that as of now Eddie Hearn only really has one truly world class star in his stable in the shape of Carl Froch. A Brit who was often overlooked and never really got the credit he deserved. Im going to ignore his first two fights under Hearn as they were in the Super 6 tournament so were more or less decided.

However since then he has managed to get Lucian Bute, the other big name in the division behind Ward, over to Nottingham for a truly huge fight. Bute at the time was seen as the next best thing and many on the other side of the Atlantic had thought he would face the newly crowned Number 1 Andre Ward. Instead Hearn negotiated hard and got him to fight Froch instead. The rest as they say is history. He now has Kessler coming over to fight at the 02 arena....big venue and a big fight. Job done!!

He has got Tony Bellew on the path to a world title fight and he is now just 1 fight from a WBC title shot. Who would have thought that 2 years ago? In fact Hearn has got him into a title eliminator in just 3 fights since signing him last May.

Since Kell Brook signed his profile has risen ten fold and he also climbed the rankings giving up his WBO position which he had earned with old Frank to take a different route...

Before signing with Eddie he was accused of becoming stagnant and Warren had began his old habit of matching him with tin cans who he would knock over on route to the WBO strap.In fact his last 3 opponents had been Phillip Kotey, Michael Jennings, Krzysztof Bienias .....hardly stellar names for a guy who was supposedly ready to take on the world.

Since signing with Eddie he has fought Carson Jones, Matthew Hatton and Lovemore Ndou. Whilst not hugely stellar names they all have championship experience and have fought big names. They have given Kell the exposure he needed and put him in line for a genuinely big fight for the IBF strap against Devon Alexander. Ok that fight now isn't going ahead but that isn't for lack of trying.

Darren Barker - Signed in Feb 2011, after a 2010 which saw him frustrated by injury and at times looking like his career was going to tail off before it even got started. In just his 2nd fight under the promotional banner he was facing Sergio Martinez at the Boardwalk Hall over in the states. Ok he didn't have home town advantage but it was hardly in Sergio's back yard either. The fact was the Martinez was the higher ranked opponent and brought all the money to the table. Injuries have again been a problem for him (as they will always be it seems)...yet there is a very high chance that after only fighting twice in the past two years...he will be named as Chavez Jnr's comeback opponent on the 22nd June! What other promoter could have got that?

Many people give him stick for putting Rees in with Broner but lets face it, the Welshman has his limitations and he will never get more exposure or money than he did for that fight.....I would much prefer to see a promoter lining up their fighter for a decent payday and great exposure as an underdog, with the possibility of causing a huge shock...than see them just set there fighters up with dud fighters card after card!!

So far I think he has done a very good for all of his fighters and can't see where he could of done anything different or for that matter better.

The next 12 months will be interesting with the likes of George Groves, Ricky Burns, Carl Frampton (another person I could of used to show he matches his prospects up tough and builds a great fan base for them), all on the verge of World title fights and big fight opportunities.

Another thing which I think he deserves praise for is the way he keeps his fighters busy...the youngsters like Kal Yafai, John Ryder, Scotty Cardle, all very busy.

Lest we forget Lee Purdy...who two years ago was beaten for the 3rd time in his career..and is now set to fight for a World Title against Alexander in May.

Also for those moaning about the fact Froch v Kessler is PPV..,.that card will have Froch, Groves and Bellew on it. You could argue that's 3 of his best 4 fighters in the stable. I know another promoter who wouldn't dream of doing that and would have milked each one of them for PPV!!

I'm a big Eddie Hearn fan, but the Lee Purdy fight shocked me. He's putting a fighters health at risk there, he is completely out of his class. If anyone watched Friday night fights on ESPN recenlty they would have see what happens to fighters fighting out of their class. Forget the young guys name but it was a brutal KO. Shocking.

azania wrote:I had JC winning. Close fight.

Agreed. Ugly fight as well. Not very entertaining in any way!

Post no JC here.

azania wrote:JC's best wins was Hopkins. Both in terms of boxing and legacy. Kessler may have been the better fighter buy Hoppo is the name. In 20 years Kess will be forgotten. Hop won't be.

i bet he made more money from the kessler fight.

Ozzy, that's an empassioned argument for Hearns and one I'm not going to argue against. I particularly liked this part "would much prefer to see a promoter lining up their fighter for a decent payday and great exposure as an underdog, with the possibility of causing a huge shock". My mind went straight to Honeyghan against Curry, which was a massive shock at the time. I doubt that many would consider that a fair match up if it happened today and Warren would never have made it.

How about, "I'd rather see fighters get thrown into fights they can't win and may suffer brain damage." More to the point.

davidemore - What's to say Lee Purdy is out his class? The guy has looked very good in his last few outings and seems to be finding his feet as a boxer now. I would agree if he has been stopped in his tracks and knocked out by people but he never has.

In fact given there records if anyone is in danger of being stopped its Devon!! He is hardly a puncher and if he wins then I would imagine it will be in an efficient manner without too much destruction!

Davidemore..again...! Boxers face the possibility brain damage every time they step into the ring. You make it sound like Hearn is throwing 5 fight novices in with a world class performer who has knocked everything out in his path...this simply isn't the case..!

Gavin Rees had beaten everyone at domestic level and showed he was as good probably better than most things at European level so where else was their to go?!

Ok he could have fought a World Ranked opponent in the top twenty but why when he had the opportunity to face someone who was fast becoming a name stateside....was being spoken of as the 2nd coming to Mayweather...and who was only fighting his 2nd fight at Lightweight...

owen10ozzy wrote:davidemore - What's to say Lee Purdy is out his class? The guy has looked very good in his last few outings and seems to be finding his feet as a boxer now. I would agree if he has been stopped in his tracks and knocked out by people but he never has.

In fact given there records if anyone is in danger of being stopped its Devon!! He is hardly a puncher and if he wins then I would imagine it will be in an efficient manner without too much destruction!

Purdy is out of his class. Has a punchers chance, but otherwise he is goin to receive a systematic beat down. Systematic beatdowns are bad for your health. I think we can say a fighter is out of his class from watching the two fighters previous fights. I imagine this is what Emore has done

owen10ozzy wrote:

Are you trying to get an interview with Hearn by any chance? Bellew's stock rose for one reason and one reason only. A decent performance against Cleverley and he was with Warren then. He's looked sh1t since. Same with Brook. Carson Jones is not a great name at welter.

No Sean, I already have interviewed him.

I agree that Bellew's stock rose following his performance against Cleverly...but then tell me who has gone further since?

It says a lot that Bellew is one fight away from becoming mandatory for Chad Dawson whilst Nathan is stuck with Frank still fighting stiffs!!

As for Kell Brook...Carson Jones was a much tougher fight than anything that he had faced under Warren. I in fact didn't even say he was a top name at Welterweight I just said that the three fights under Hearn have been tougher names and more importantly brought him EXPOSURE something which he was not getting when with Frank!!

As for Purdy getting a systematic beatdown.....against Alexander...not a chance. The guy just doesn't put on systematic beat downs. He is a smart fighter who boxes on the back foot but can be accused of throwing very little at times...something which I think may help Purdy out who wastes very little in the way of punches. The only way Purdy gets put to sleep is if he falls asleep whilst being in the ring with a boring fighter!

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:Hopkins won that fight tho.

Joe is one of my all time favourite fighters but I thought he lost as well, that being said, the ref was a clown and Hopkins was allowed to get away with murder.

If you think that fighting Devon Alexander is dangerous for Lee Purdy, you clearly haven't seen Devon Alexander fight. He's a good boxer, but has next to no power.

I can't see Purdy winning, it'll be a late stoppage due to sustained pressure with nothing coming back or wide UD. Won't be a career ender, it'll improve everyones perception of a plucky Brit, same as it has done for Rees.

I think Hearn is absolutely creaming it at the moment, best stable in the UK by a distance, gets better fights for his boxers and seems fairer. Why do fighters leave Frank? Because its alleged that he screws them for money and won't progress them at the rate they want with the right fighters, he's also a very harsh negotiator, losing a lot of his purse bids through stubbornness. Look at his "Cleverly" spectacle. Printing off emails and shouting at the microphone that his fighter is being ducked. Pah.

I was impressed (others weren't probably) by Clev last week. Thought he looked better than he has for a long time. Krasniqui was never going to be a stern test, but still it was a step up from nurses, and he did well.

owen10ozzy wrote:No Sean, I already have interviewed him.

I agree that Bellew's stock rose following his performance against Cleverly...but then tell me who has gone further since?

It says a lot that Bellew is one fight away from becoming mandatory for Chad Dawson
fighter!

Cleverley is world champ with rumours of Hopkins/the german chap in the future. Bellew looked pi55 poor against a fringe level fighter and is having to rematch him.

Fact is, neither Bellew or Brook have moved any further since joining Hearn.

seanmichaels wrote:

owen10ozzy wrote:No Sean, I already have interviewed him.

I agree that Bellew's stock rose following his performance against Cleverly...but then tell me who has gone further since?

It says a lot that Bellew is one fight away from becoming mandatory for Chad Dawson
fighter!

Cleverley is world champ with rumours of Hopkins/the german chap in the future. Bellew looked pi55 poor against a fringe level fighter and is having to rematch him.

Fact is, neither Bellew or Brook have moved any further since joining Hearn.

Source of these rumours being Warren and Cleverly themselves. Say something enough times and people will begin to believe it I suppose!

Hearn did wonders for Froch for a start, look at the state of how that fat useless sweat fountain mick hennessy managed him. So that's point one of how Hearn gave Froch his platform, and now his is recognised throughout boxing as one of the few elite super middles.

Ok, Brook may be injured left right and centre, but Hearn has created such an interest where he is selling out arenas on his own.

Then Frampton. The Odyssey Arena holds about 15 thousand and Framps would never have achieved this if he was promoted by fish face.

Then the likes of Bellew, he's been turned from a fighter who fights at fights charity events to selling out the Echo arena.

In the cases of Brook, Bellew, Froch. The promoters they were with were unable to identify markets for them. Hearn is fantastic at this (even if they aren't world class). Take Paul McCloskey for example. Over here Hearn could fill the Kings Hall with him on the bill as he has a lot of supporters in Ireland.

Just watch how Ricky Burns becomes a big name on these shores. Hearn will have the scottish sitting up and it will be fantastic.

But if all else fails, David can keep insulting me for having an opinion and all thse fighters can fight on bolloxnation where (in the theme of Cheers) "nobody knows their name....."

Purdy is IBF Intercontawhatever belt holder. So should he just say "whoooa I'm only in this game to get to intercontenental level, I would never fight for a world title!!"

Idiots on here sumtimes, that's the goal, if he fails, he fails. But he's going for the thing he has been training for his whole life....but hey, tell eddie to stop him for going for it because he will get beat. Afterall, when a fighter loses they may as well jump off a tall building, life is over.

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:Hearn did wonders for Froch for a start, look at the state of how that fat useless sweat fountain mick hennessy managed him. So that's point one of how Hearn gave Froch his platform, and now his is recognised throughout boxing as one of the few elite super middles.

Kerpoppycock. The super 6 gave him is platform.

And who got him into the S6? Not Hearn but hey!

seanmichaels wrote:

owen10ozzy wrote:No Sean, I already have interviewed him.

I agree that Bellew's stock rose following his performance against Cleverly...but then tell me who has gone further since?

It says a lot that Bellew is one fight away from becoming mandatory for Chad Dawson
fighter!

Cleverley is world champ with rumours of Hopkins/the german chap in the future. Bellew looked pi55 poor against a fringe level fighter and is having to rematch him.

Fact is, neither Bellew or Brook have moved any further since joining Hearn.

What?!

Brook was mandatory for the IBF belt and was due to fight stateside on a bill including Matthysse v Peterson....pretty big bill to be on! He also sold out the Motorpoint Arena 3 times in a row as the chief act....correct me if im wrong but im not sure he was in that position under Warren.

We are not talking about the performances of either fighter...we are talking about where they are at. You have buried your own argument bringing up Hopkins because he has been claiming he will be fighting the likes of Hopkins et al for the past 18 months.

Since fighting Bellew the Welshman has fought Karpency (Ranked #83 in World), Shawn Hawk (Ranked #53 in World), Krasniqi (Ranked #42 in World)

Bellew has fought McIntosh (#53), Miranda (#33), Bolonati (#26), Chilemba (#8)

Oh and in case you weren't aware...Clev is the WORLD CHAMPION out of the two!!

Az & Sean - Agreed on the Super 6 front...Hearn obviously played no part in that and Froch had the platform to get onto the World Stage through it. However Hearn has to be credited for getting Bute over to the UK...the guy who barely left his hometown but was generally considered the Number 2...even joint number 1 guy in the division at the time!

I'm not rubbishing Hearn. Just feel he has not necessarily turned UK boxing on its head like many like to believe.

Not yet but he is building a good stable, he knows the old wood we have now wont last.

Poppycock!? Haha. Froch was still unknown in that tornement. When he started fighting on Sky Sports against Johnson and Ward the interest couldn't have been greater.

If Hennessy was still managing him when he was in the final, it would have been on that dire Primetime channel. So in that respect, Hearn did better than Hennessey ever could by bring Froch to Sky....Hennessy was showing his fights on ome ppv website ffs!!

Reborn-DeeMcK-Reborn wrote:Poppycock!? Haha. Froch was still unknown in that tornement. When he started fighting on Sky Sports against Johnson and Ward the interest couldn't have been greater.

If Hennessy was still managing him when he was in the final, it would have been on that dire Primetime channel. So in that respect, Hearn did better than Hennessey ever could by bring Froch to Sky....Hennessy was showing his fights on ome ppv website ffs!!

He would have been on C5 with a bigger audience.

And he wouldn't have got the Bute fight or the Kessler rematch because he wouldn't have had a promoter with financial clout to pay them and get them over here!