Suprised with all the hate for Eddie Hearn!!

[ThereByTheGrace]

Seems a bit up himself to be fair. Not keen on him, showed his true colours when he put Bellew and Cleverly PPV, it lost him an awful lot of respect, and doubt he'll win it back now.

He has made a career swooning other promoters fighters to his stable with Sky Sports money and the power his dad brings with Darts.

[Black Sam Bellamy]

I remember some of the Maloney Friday nights. Hapless Hungarians and Latvians all down the card. Complete mismatches. I don't remember these Friday nights like some seem to be doing.

[dalcumly]

Not that he will care one jot, but I lost all respect when he conspired with
Sky to make Bellew v Cleverley PPV. This has opened the door for ALL reasonable match ups in the future to be the same and it simply boils down to pure greed.Every one of his top fighters will appear on PPV from now on.
He's attracting fans to events, not to boxing. Many thousands at the Froch v Groves fight in London couldn't tell a left hook from a fish hook. Good for him,but not for the sport. Sorry folks, the sport is on the way out.

[DMA1987]

Friday Night Fights was for the most part terrible. Absolutely terrible.

I get that a lot of you don't like Hearn, but let's not rewrite history here. If Sky sacked him today he will have left british boxing in a far better state than he found it.

[Benelio]

I think part of what I liked about Friday night fights is the Friday bit. Was good just to chill out at the end of the working week and watch a half-decent domestic fight (or David Price slap around a fat Latvian with a fake record).

I can't speak for everyone here, but in my case I tend to have more obligations/plans on Saturday night than Friday - so often end up having to record and watch Saturday fights during the week. By which time I usually know the results.

[ILikeBeer]

I think part of what I liked about Friday night fights is the Friday bit. Was good just to chill out at the end of the working week and watch a half-decent domestic fight (or David Price slap around a fat Latvian with a fake record).

I can't speak for everyone here, but in my case I tend to have more obligations/plans on Saturday night than Friday - so often end up having to record and watch Saturday fights during the week. By which time I usually know the results.

I kind of agree. I enjoyed cracking open four or five tinnies at the end of the week, and getting half-drunk watching domestic level boxing. When it was on Saturdays, starting at 10pm seemed quite late as you had to wait all day for it to start. It didn't have that end of the week feel. On Fridays, you can come home, have dinner and whatnot then start looking forward to the boxing.

Often these people are on the way up, so both fighters are giving it their all. So you'd usually get a fight that was worth watching. People complain about them being in leisure centers or town halls, but so what? That wasn't that relevant when you're watching it on television, and tended to create a more intimate style atmosphere anyway.

[black panther]

I think part of what I liked about Friday night fights is the Friday bit. Was good just to chill out at the end of the working week and watch a half-decent domestic fight (or David Price slap around a fat Latvian with a fake record).

I can't speak for everyone here, but in my case I tend to have more obligations/plans on Saturday night than Friday - so often end up having to record and watch Saturday fights during the week. By which time I usually know the results.

I kind of agree. I enjoyed cracking open four or five tinnies at the end of the week, and getting half-drunk watching domestic level boxing. When it was on Saturdays, starting at 10pm seemed quite late as you had to wait all day for it to start. It didn't have that end of the week feel. On Fridays, you can come home, have dinner and whatnot then start looking forward to the boxing.

Often these people are on the way up, so both fighters are giving it their all. So you'd usually get a fight that was worth watching. People complain about them being in leisure centers or town halls, but so what? That wasn't that relevant when you're watching it on television, and tended to create a more intimate style atmosphere anyway.

Not to mention a lot of the fights were really good and well matched! I mean Macklin - Moore...or just about any Jamie Moore fight to be honest!

[Boxerbeetle]

I think part of what I liked about Friday night fights is the Friday bit. Was good just to chill out at the end of the working week and watch a half-decent domestic fight (or David Price slap around a fat Latvian with a fake record).

I can't speak for everyone here, but in my case I tend to have more obligations/plans on Saturday night than Friday - so often end up having to record and watch Saturday fights during the week. By which time I usually know the results.

I kind of agree. I enjoyed cracking open four or five tinnies at the end of the week, and getting half-drunk watching domestic level boxing. When it was on Saturdays, starting at 10pm seemed quite late as you had to wait all day for it to start. It didn't have that end of the week feel. On Fridays, you can come home, have dinner and whatnot then start looking forward to the boxing.

Often these people are on the way up, so both fighters are giving it their all. So you'd usually get a fight that was worth watching. People complain about them being in leisure centers or town halls, but so what? That wasn't that relevant when you're watching it on television, and tended to create a more intimate style atmosphere anyway.

Not to mention a lot of the fights were really good and well matched! I mean Macklin - Moore...or just about any Jamie Moore fight to be honest!

Yeah I agree with a lot of that. However, as DMA1987 says above, let's not go overboard on the nostalgia & pretend Friday Night Fights were always Moore vs Macklin quality. A lot of the cards were hugely forgettable (as are many of the Saturday night cards).

Plus Saturday night cards are great when there's a big US card being televised later, love the all-nighters when there's about 12 hours straight boxing

[danamba7]

Not that he will care one jot, but I lost all respect when he conspired with
Sky to make Bellew v Cleverley PPV. This has opened the door for ALL reasonable match ups in the future to be the same and it simply boils down to pure greed.Every one of his top fighters will appear on PPV from now on.
He's attracting fans to events, not to boxing. Many thousands at the Froch v Groves fight in London couldn't tell a left hook from a fish hook. Good for him,but not for the sport. Sorry folks, the sport is on the way out.

For a split second there I thought a fish hook was a special type of punch I hadn't heard about!

[ILikeBeer]

Yeah I agree with a lot of that. However, as DMA1987 says above, let's not go overboard on the nostalgia & pretend Friday Night Fights were always Moore vs Macklin quality. A lot of the cards were hugely forgettable (as are many of the Saturday night cards).

I always enjoyed Friday Fight Nights at the time, so can't really call it rewriting history for my end.

Nothing to do with Eddie Hearn, or what we have now. I just always enjoyed them. If they had Friday Night Fight night style on Sky Sports now, and then a bigger domestic fight or an international contest on Saturdays, that'd be ideal.

[johnswan1]

Shows full of shite mismatches, inability to put big fights together, every decent fight has to be on PPV and he's just an annoying, arrogant, smug bastard

Can we have a Boxrec whip round to buy you a ticket for his show so you can tell him to his face?

Why, what would Eddie do, lock him in a tanning booth?

[freddydoesdallas]

Not that he will care one jot, but I lost all respect when he conspired with
Sky to make Bellew v Cleverley PPV. This has opened the door for ALL reasonable match ups in the future to be the same and it simply boils down to pure greed.Every one of his top fighters will appear on PPV from now on.
He's attracting fans to events, not to boxing. Many thousands at the Froch v Groves fight in London couldn't tell a left hook from a fish hook. Good for him,but not for the sport. Sorry folks, the sport is on the way out.

Completely agree with this and this is also going to cause stumbling blocks to the type of fights we as fans want to see. e.g. George Groves was part of a massive event he created based around Carl Froch. If it was Degale, Smith or any other British fighter who had the first fight ended in similar fashion then Hearn would have been able to do a similar thing. The problem now is that Groves thinks he was an attraction to the event and not just a cog in it. Take him out of that hype train and he won't be putting bums on seats but he still thinks he's entitled to big purses.

[Wake up call]

I like Matchroom, but I can see why people are sometimes disappointed.

To be fair I have compiled this list of SKY cards in the two years prior to Eddie's exclusive deal and the ones after so people can make an accurate comparison

2010

Matchroom

20/01 - Lee McAllister v Samuel Amoako
12/02 - Lenny Daws v Jason Cook / Grant v Williams
26/02 - Prizefighter light-middleweights (won by Prince Arron)
05/03 - Gary Sykes v Andy Morris
09/04 - Audley Harrison v Michael Sprott / Barker v Belghecham
30/04 - Prizefighter cruiserweights (won by JL Dickinson)
07/05 - John Murray v Gary Buckland
29/05 - Prizefighter super-bantams (won by Willie Casey)
11/06 - Paul McCloskey v Giusseppe Lauri /McIntyre v Haughian
30/06 - Prizefighter super-middles (won by Patrick Mendy)
09/07 - Lenny Daws v Steve Williams
25/09 - John Murray v Andrey Kudryavtsev
09/10 - Prizefighter heavyweights (won by Michael Sprott)
06/11 - Gavin Rees v John Watson
20/11 - Prizefighter super-feathers (won by Gary Buckland)

allegedly

13/02 - Kevin Mitchell v Ignacio Mendoza/ Nathan Cleverly v Antonio Brancalion
12/03 - Paul Smith v Tony Dodson 1/ Brook v Bienias/ Bellew v Moore
15/05 - Mitchell v Katsidis / Chisora v Williams / DeGale v Horton
04/09 - Roman Martinez v Ricky Burns / Simpson v Smith 1
18/09 - Magnificent Seven featuring Brook v Jennings, Maccarinelli v Frenkal, Macklin v Jomardasvili, Hall v Konecny, Cleverly v Murat, Chisora v Sexton, DeGale v Dilks, Gavin v Kelly (PPV).
23/10 - Walsh v Awuku
04/12 - Burns v Evensen/ Appleby v Laryea
11/12 - DeGale v Smith/ Bellew v McKenzie 1/ Cleverly v Mohammedi / Brook v Kotey

Hatton Promotions

15/01 - Dolan v Norton / Thompson v McIntyre
19/02 - Lawson v Kirakosyan / Buckland v Rukundo / McIntosh v Oakey
26/02 - Matthew Hatton v Branco / Small v Webb
16/04 - Vassell v Purdy / Watson v Lusambya
21/05 - Rhodes v Messi
16/07 - M.Hatton v Nuzhnenko / Murray v Mitrevski Jnr
02/10 - Foster Jnr v Kirakosyan / Crolla v Morris / Lyon v Burkinshaw
26/11 - M. Hatton v Belge / Quigg v Sassou / Murray v Nascimento


Frank Maloney

22/01 - Napa v McDonnell / Sexton v Ahmed
05/02 - Booth v Marsh
19/03 Lindsay v Arthur
23/04 - Munroe v Terrazas / Conception v Hammond
14/05 - Bayaar v Sexton / Olumbamiyo v Kenna
28/05 - Sykes v O'Hara / Rose v Maxwell 1
04/06 - Hall v Napa
25/06 - Fury v McDermott 2
02/07 - McDonnell v Bracco / Woodhouse v Bull
25/07 - Hall v Power / Wright v Harrison
11/09 - Molitor v Booth
16/10 - Webb v Conception / Arthur v Hughes
15/12 - Lindsay v Simpson / Edwards v Bayaar


2011

Matchroom

29/01 - Prizefighter (won by Travis Dickinson)
12/02 - Watson v Crolla
05/03 - Sykes v Johnanneson
23/03 - Prizefighter (won by Rocky Fielding)
30/04 - Barker v Spada
07/05 - Prizefighter (won by Mike Perez)
04/06 - Rees v Andy Murray (not the tennis player) / Frampton v Turley
07/06 - Prizefighter (won by El Maachi)
10/09 - McCloskey v Prescott / Frampton v Quon
15/09 - Prizefighter (won by Robert Lloyd Taylor)
01/10 - Rees v Mathews 1
08/10 - Brook v Jackiewicz
12/10 - Prizefighter (won by Lee Haskins)
29/10 - Prizefighter (won by Choi)
09/11 - Purdy v Lynes

allegedly

19/02 - Gavin v Lomax / McDermott v Olubamiwo
12/03 - Burns v Laryea
19/03 - Walsh v Kays
02/04 - Murray v El Ouazghari
21/05 - DeGale v Groves / Cleverly v Kuziemski / Gavin v Mutley
16/07 - Mitchell v Murray / Gavin v Woodhouse / Burns v Cook / Bellew v McKenzie 2
09/09 - Cox v Sai (DEBRA dinner show)
17/09 - Smith v Selby

Hatton Promotions

26/02 - Foster Jnr v Fegatilli / Lyon v Wale
26/03 - Vassell v Ushona / Askin v Dawson
16/04 - Khan v McCloskey / Murray v Calvalho/ Watson v Purdy 1 (moved to Primetime)
18/06 - Murray v Blackwell / Crolla v De Luca
24/09 - Sykes v Buckland / Munroe v Miyagi
12/11 - Vassell v Colomban / Askin v Kracik

Frank Maloney

22/01 - McDonnell v Jamoye
05/03 - Booth v Arthur
09/04 - Hall v Donnelly
13/05 - Webb v Arron / Bhatia v Jones
28/05 - McDonnell v Otieno / Wright v Smedley
11/06 - Chris Edwards v Paul Edwards / Price v Dallas
03/09 - McDonnell v Hall
22/10 - Booth v Quigg / Hope v Hill
03/12 - Arron v Rose / Williams v Place
10/12 - Theophane v Murphy / Edwards v Bayaar

2012 (prior to exclusive Hearn deal)

Matchroom

28/01 - Frampton v Hughes / Ochieng v Quigley
11/02 - Prizefighter (won by Adil Anwar)
17/03 - Brook v M. Hatton / Frampton v Ankrah / Proksa v Hope 1
27/04 - Bellew v McIntosh
05/05 - McCloskey v Corley
26/05 - Froch v Bute / Frampton v Hirales / Ochieng v Lowe
20/06 - Prizefighter heavyweights (won by Tor Hamer)
07/07 - Brook v Jones / Rees v Mathews 2 / Hope v Proksa 2 / Purdy v Johnson


Frank Maloney

21/01 - Price v McDermott / McDonagh v Waldron
25/02 - McAllister v Shafikov / JL Dickinson v Burton
03/03 - McDonnell v Pozo
31/03 - Rose v Maxwell 2
19/05 - Price v Sexton / Satchell v Edwards / Theophane v Hamilton / Anwar v Ryan
02/06 - Rose v Carslaw

allegedly

None – Broadcasting on allegedly after Sept 2011.

Hatton Promotions

04/02 - Quigg v Arthur
24/03 - Buckland v Truscott / Mendy v Price
21/04 - Crolla v Mathews 1 (SKY fight of the year) / Askin v Dickinson
16/06 - Quigg v Munroe / Rhodes v Rabchenko / Towers v Tony / Murray v Achour


MATCHROOM CARDS SINCE EXCLUSIVE SKY DEAL

08/09/12 – Bellew v Miranda / Purdy v Carrasco / Echieng v Toms
22/09/12 - Frampton v Molitor / McCloskey v Perez
06/10/12 - Prizefighter (won by Terry Flanagan)
20/10/12 - Brook v Saldivia / McDonnell v Zamora / Anderson v Reid
03/11/12 - Prizefighter (won by Larry Ekundayo)
17/11/12 - Froch v Mack / Bellew v Bolonti
08/12/12 - Barker v Hope / Ochieng v Maxwell / Ryder v O'Kane
19/01/13 - Prizefighter (won by Glenn Foot)
09/02/13 - Frampton v Martinez 1/Selby v Lindsay/Lee v Fitzgerald
23/02/13 - Prizefighter (won by Audley Harrison)
09/03/13 - Barker v Rotolo/Purdy v Rivera/Clarke v Camacho/ Groves v Belmaceda
30/03/13 - Bellew v Chilemba 1/Crolla v Mathews 2/Fielding v Reed
20/04/13 - Rose v Alcine/Selby v McConnell./Cardle v Hughes/Askin v Clarke
11/05/13 - Burns v Gonzalez / Simpson v Choi
18/05/13 - Prizefighter (won by Wadi Camacho)
25/05/13 - Froch v Kessler 2/ Groves v Alcoba/Bellew v Chilemba 2 PPV
29/06/13 - Rees v Crolla /Smith v Dobson/Quigg v Prado/Rose v Ribchev
06/07/13 - Mitchell v Benito & Prizefighter won by Chris Jenkins
13/07/13 - Selby v Simion/Mathews v Coyle/Luke Campbell debut/Brook v Jones 2
07/09/13 - Burns v Beltram/Slowey v Lorente/Simmons v Graf
21/09/13 - Mathews v Woodhouse/L.Smith v Ochieng/Fielding v Akrong/C.Smith v Mendy
05/10/13 - Selby v Walsh/Quigg v Salinas/Mitchell v Lopez
26/10/13 - Brook v Senchenko/Etches v Mendes/Smith v Acosta/Rose v Maciel
02/11/13 - Towers v Browne/Warrington v Mouneimme/Coyle v Simpson
14/11/13 - Prizefighter won by Michael Sprott
23/11/13 - Froch v Groves 1/Quigg v Silva/Fielding v Blackledge/Crolla v Foster Jnr PPV
14/12/13 - Purdy v Bundu/Mitchell v El Ouazghazi/Boylan v Owen
01/02/14 - Rees v Buckland/Selby v Munroe/Jenkins v Sebire
22/02/14 - Coyle v Brizuela/Hamilton v Woodhouse/G. McDonnell v Wood
01/03/14 - Burns v Crawford/Murray v Simpson
15/03/14 - Bellew v Brudov/ Fielding v Adamu/Brook v Robles
05/04/14 - Prizefighter won by Johnny Coyle
19/04/14 - Quigg v Munyai/Crolla v Murray/Warrington v Munroe/Nurse v Goodjohn
17/05/14 - Buckland v Rees 2/Cleverly v Corbin/Selby v Koasicha/Smith v Webb
21/05/14 - Warrington v Lindsay/G.McDonnell v Wale/Smith v Munoz/Yafai v Kareem
31/05/14- Froch v Groves 2/Mitchell v Maduma/DeGale v Gonzalez/McDonnel v Rachawat
27/06/14 - Burns v Zlaticanin/Woodhouse v Limond/Simmons v Camacho
12/07/14 - Bellew v Dos Santos/Cleverly v Valori/Fielding v Acoba
13/09/14 - Quigg v Jamoye/Crolla v Diaz/Eggington v Vassell
04/10/14 - Warrington v Dieli/Nurse v Ryan
11/10/14 - Selby v Brunker/Ryder v Tettey/Goodjohn v Boylan/Joshua v Bakhtov
25/10/14 - G.McDonnell v Malinga/Coyle v Katsidis/Campbell v Brizuela
15/11/14 - Macklin v Heiland/Yafai v Briceno/O'Sullivan v Fitzgerald
22/11/14 - Bellew v Cleverly 2/DeGale v Periban/Quigg v Otake/Groves v Douglin PPV
06/12/14 - Prizefighter won by Jono Carroll
31/01/15 - Mitchell v Estrada/Ryder v Godoy/Martin v Boylan

[SteveDow]

I think the following are the main reasons people don't particularly like Eddie Hearn:

1. He's not self-made. He was essentially given everything he has by his dad. This grates on me a bit as well but that does to a degree boil down to envy that someone can be handed such a brilliant job on a plate when I and others have had to work our nuts off to be in whatever job we are.

2. He will only put decent fights on PPV. I think the Bellew v Cleverly 2 farce was a watershed moment in the sense that any decent scrap (thinking fights like Degale v Groves/Callum Smith, Joshua v Price/Fury, Froch v anyone) which predominantly would otherwise have been on normal Sky Sports will now be certain to be a PPV. People don't like the idea of being ripped off and whilst it is easy to say (as Eddie helpfully did before Bellew v Cleverly 2) "if you don't like it don't buy it" the reality is that people are already paying through the nose for Sky Sports and quite rightly should expect decent fights to be on the normal service.

3. He is the epitome of style over substance. Great salesman but you couldn't trust him as far as you could throw him (same with most promoters).

[Evander]

He called me a twunt after I slagged him off post Froch v Groves 1, I was pretty steamed after that bogus stoppage.
Other than that I have nothing against him, besides I can be a bit of a twunt sometimes and someday I might need to ponce some tickets off of him the grovelling twunt I am.

[Andrew]

Farce Card Eddie.

[Andrew]

Eddie's done whats best for Eddie and Matchroom.

He's brought boxing back to the City's because his stable hasnt got many "World Established" stars.... so he's taking the tribal route in order to maximise his company (and to be fair his fighters) short term monetary gain.

Out of the likes of Selby, Warrington, Bellew, Joshua, Smith, Smith, Mitchell and the millions of others he only needs 1 of them to catch some of the Hatton magic (albeit with a degree of success) and he's laughing.

His cards have been a mixed bag, but no worse than other years gone by, and his sales pitch is certainly of a higher standard.

I'd like to see Sky allow 1 other promoter 4-6 shows a year just to keep Eddie on his toes, but appreciate that wont happen.

Good post a few matchroom cards aren't bad. The O2 one recently wasn't that bad considering he needs to give other domestic fighters a chance in very competitive fights which will make good TV. Not home fighters against Argies and eastern europeans.

[Andrew]

If he moved on, everyone would moan about his replacement. The thing that annoys me is that there seems to be fewer British title fights. In fact, I'm going to count how many there's been each year over the past five years.

I'll see yous in six months.

Spot on not Eddie (more so than Frank I think) seem to be more interested in getting these WBC International titles instead of the traditional British, Commonwealth and European route.

The worst thing about this is for these international belts you can fight random Argies and Eastern Europeans for them who aren't ranked.

and the WBO European belt Warren has his whole stable fighting whats that about

[magnus]

The WBO European belt is being contested soon by Ross Burkinshaw against a Belgian with a truly laughable record. He's never beaten an opponent with a winning record, and four or five of his nine victories have come against the same fighter (who had zero wins on his record).

Still, as Dennis Hobson says, "It's a prestigious belt".

[Parson Cross]

Why is there a presumption that Fast Eddie has dictated what is a PPV event ?
Where is the criticism of Sky ?

[palooka]

I don't like the presumption that there are 4 ppv dates a year that fights need to be made for, the sport and business of boxing is not in good shape and it'll get worse.

[ashedward]

Boxing in is a far better shape then a few years ago when we had our best fighter fighting on an obscure ppv channel nobody had ever heard off.I`m seeing more buzz about the sport at the moment and even Bazza Mcguigen has got his collumn back in the Mirror and Frampton on ITV.It`s not all sunshine and rainbows but I have seen the sport in this country in far worse state and with the ups and downs of the sport you never know how things are going to happen in the future.I hope the Clev-Bellew ppv will be as bad as a Hearn ppv gets maybe that's naïve but I`m an optimist at heart

[DMA1987]

Boxing in is a far better shape then a few years ago when we had our best fighter fighting on an obscure ppv channel nobody had ever heard off.I`m seeing more buzz about the sport at the moment and even Bazza Mcguigen has got his collumn back in the Mirror and Frampton on ITV.It`s not all sunshine and rainbows but I have seen the sport in this country in far worse state and with the ups and downs of the sport you never know how things are going to happen in the future.I hope the Clev-Bellew ppv will be as bad as a Hearn ppv gets maybe that's naïve but I`m an optimist at heart

I'm with you.

The romanticising of FNF on this thread is hilarious.

[jamesmcdonnell]

one word.

Smug.

[Tarkus]

Why is there a presumption that Fast Eddie has dictated what is a PPV event ?
Where is the criticism of Sky ?

Very true. It is likely that PPV was a SKY idea. And if it is true then Eddie Hearn could not possible stop it.

As for saying Eddie Hearn was given everything. Just remember that Matchroom boxing was an average promotion at best when he arrived at the helm, far behind allegedly. In just a few years it changed into not just the number one in the UK but in fact it is bigger then everyone else put together.

You have to give a credit where it is due. Otherwise you just sound like an unreasonable hater.