Hearn losing his grip ?

[forcefraser]

Boxxer and Sky seem determined to put the knife into Hearn.

Snapping up the young talent and taking fighters from Matchroom.

Looks like Okolie could be the next to jump ship.

If AJ loses to Usyk again and Canelo pisses off after the next fight where does he go from there? Who are his big names?

This DAZn move is not looking great. With the money he had to spend he has done very little in the US. Honey pissed off, Andrade gone.

Poor old Eddie

[Dioufy]

Definitely. Still hardly anyone knows about DAZN apart from us losers.

[Dioufy]

AJ v Usyk now on Sky PPV… pretty much confirmed. Imagine AJ loses badly.

Long term deal with DAZN to look forward to.

[fizzjambo]

Hearn took a chance and its blowing up in his face.

His main mistake was believing matchroom boxing was bigger than Sky, or at least sky need them more than they needed sky.

[Glass Joe]

DAZN Deal with AJ seems like they are buying Bitcoin at all-time high.

[cpx2]

AJ versus Chisora on DAZN PPV incoming.

Game. Changed.

[KiwiRider]

I wish Boxxer would put on more shows.
They don't seem to realise that closely matched small hall shows are cheap to put on, make money and if they can line up two or three close fights they are onto a winner.

[Blueprint]

This is silly. AJ will still do big numbers with or without the belts.

[KiwiRider]

This is silly. AJ will still do big numbers with or without the belts.

Maybe, but he does have a lot of casual fans, and they can be very fickle.
Even if he loses, he is still top #5.
It's if he wants to continue really, AJ is incredibly wealthy.

[Boxerbeetle]

Wtf was the point of signing up Joshua to DAZN if the Usyk rematch wasn’t included? If AJ gets hammered, he’ll probably retire so the whole thing would be pointless.

[garethhop]

Extraordinary stuff going on.

Hope Usyk absolutely buries AJ.

[cpx2]

Unlike any of his bouts, Lawrence Okolie's Twitter is pretty interesting at the minute ... may be a Crawford/Arum situation

[handsofstone]

Okolie tweeted there about 10 minutes ago "Eddie Hearn is a " then shat the bed and deleted it, he's now tweeted a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio in Django, I've only seen some of the film years ago so not sure the exact reference but it doesn't take a genius to know what he's getting at

I havent missed out a word in the tweet btw

[liamlion]

The signs are there that fighters are leaving Eddie to go to Sky.

The situation with Okolie is interesting and bad signs for Hearn. Is Okolie trying to break away to Sky and is Eddie responding by threatening him (legally) that contractually they have one more fight yet to go and he’s going nowhere?

Billam-Smith and Liam Smith recently announcing their next fights on Sky must be a concern for Hearn.

Eddie’s move to DAZN has really brought into focus Sky’s position as the UK’s number 1 boxing network particularly with its reach and coverage.

[KiwiRider]

Wtf was the point of signing up Joshua to DAZN if the Usyk rematch wasn’t included? If AJ gets hammered, he’ll probably retire so the whole thing would be pointless.

I know right?
He is/was supposed to be their golden goose-along with Canelo.
And it seems DAZN don't have a hold on either.
I would love to say I saw the writing on the wall some months back and cancelled my DAZN subscription.
But I never saw this situation at all.

[maverick23]

Okolie tweeted there about 10 minutes ago "Eddie Hearn is a " then shat the bed and deleted it, he's now tweeted a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio in Django, I've only seen some of the film years ago so not sure the exact reference but it doesn't take a genius to know what he's getting at

I havent missed out a word in the tweet btw

Lawrence wasn’t saying that when Eddie got him a world title fight at home in his 16th fight. Plus when he won Eddie gave him a decent Rolex.

He’s a good fighter but when you imply your current promoter is a black slave master (the Django thing) and you reportedly have one fight left on your deal then it’s going to get ugly. I’d normally support the fighter on these kind of disputes but this, like the Crawford/Top Rank one, is stupid.

[handsofstone]

Okolie tweeted there about 10 minutes ago "Eddie Hearn is a " then shat the bed and deleted it, he's now tweeted a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio in Django, I've only seen some of the film years ago so not sure the exact reference but it doesn't take a genius to know what he's getting at

I havent missed out a word in the tweet btw

Lawrence wasn’t saying that when Eddie got him a world title fight at home in his 16th fight. Plus when he won Eddie gave him a decent Rolex.

He’s a good fighter but when you imply your current promoter is a black slave master (the Django thing) and you reportedly have one fight left on your deal then it’s going to get ugly. I’d normally support the fighter on these kind of disputes but this, like the Crawford/Top Rank one, is stupid.

Okolie acting like a dick, regardless of specifics tweeting that is bang out of order

[bripez]

Okolie tweeted there about 10 minutes ago "Eddie Hearn is a " then shat the bed and deleted it, he's now tweeted a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio in Django, I've only seen some of the film years ago so not sure the exact reference but it doesn't take a genius to know what he's getting at

I havent missed out a word in the tweet btw

Lawrence wasn’t saying that when Eddie got him a world title fight at home in his 16th fight. Plus when he won Eddie gave him a decent Rolex.

He’s a good fighter but when you imply your current promoter is a black slave master (the Django thing) and you reportedly have one fight left on your deal then it’s going to get ugly. I’d normally support the fighter on these kind of disputes but this, like the Crawford/Top Rank one, is stupid.

I agree.

I am usually in the side of the boxer but sometimes they are just ingrates (as somebody once said!)

[Blueprint]

Wtf was the point of signing up Joshua to DAZN if the Usyk rematch wasn’t included? If AJ gets hammered, he’ll probably retire so the whole thing would be pointless.

Why would AJ retire when he has 100 million on the table? He might not be better than usyk, but still fancy him to beat most top 10 heavyweights.

[forcefraser]

Wtf was the point of signing up Joshua to DAZN if the Usyk rematch wasn’t included? If AJ gets hammered, he’ll probably retire so the whole thing would be pointless.

Why would AJ retire when he has 100 million on the table? He might not be better than usyk, but still fancy him to beat most top 10 heavyweights.

He must have close to 100 million already. How many 100 millions does a man need?

[Twinkle Toes]

I've thought more recently that Hearn is slowly but surely falling apart.

Markowski coming out and making a very pointed reference to Hearn not being able to get deals done because of issues with other promoters was food for thought.

This latest thing of AJ getting a huge fee to sign with Dazn and then his first fight looking likely to go to SKY PPV because Hearn negotiated all the tv rights away to the Saudis - If this bears any light, then Dazn must be absolutely fuming with that one.

This business with Okoile isn't a good look, not that I put any blame at Hearn's door for that one. Okolie has done incredibly well from Hearn matchroom. To imply he's a slave is moronic.

The signings to SKY recently remind me a lot of when Hearn appeared and started signing up a lot of established names with his excusive contract. Same thing happening again only he's on the receiving end this time.

We'll see what he's made of now, he's always bragged he likes a challenge so let's see what happens the rest of this year.

[KiwiRider]

I've thought more recently that Hearn is slowly but surely falling apart.

Markowski coming out and making a very pointed reference to Hearn not being able to get deals done because of issues with other promoters was food for thought.

This latest thing of AJ getting a huge fee to sign with Dazn and then his first fight looking likely to go to SKY PPV because Hearn negotiated all the tv rights away to the Saudis - If this bears any light, then Dazn must be absolutely fuming with that one.

This business with Okoile isn't a good look, not that I put any blame at Hearn's door for that one. Okolie has done incredibly well from Hearn matchroom. To imply he's a slave is moronic.

The signings to SKY recently remind me a lot of when Hearn appeared and started signing up a lot of established names with his excusive contract. Same thing happening again only he's on the receiving end this time.

We'll see what he's made of now, he's always bragged he likes a challenge so let's see what happens the rest of this year.

Good post
Eddie has learnt that the take up (and retention) for DAZN has been nowhere near the projections.
I'm betting he sold the idea to the DAZN bosses that he would take the boxing viewership away from Sky and transfer that to DAZN subscribers.

[coneye]

I bought the Dazn subscription , watched one fight , a Conor Benn fight ,, then found most the other fights were not being telecast to Aust i had to buy them on another platform , Ok fair enough Dazn were not charging me a fortune , but so what thats there problem , i only know i'm not paying twice so i cancelled after the one fight and will not be going back , Conor Benn is'nt that good or important

[KiwiRider]

I bought the Dazn subscription , watched one fight , a Conor Benn fight ,, then found most the other fights were not being telecast to Aust i had to buy them on another platform , Ok fair enough Dazn were not charging me a fortune , but so what thats there problem , i only know i'm not paying twice so i cancelled after the one fight and will not be going back , Conor Benn is'nt that good or important

The UK were getting twice as many cards a month than us antipodean subscribers.
One month there was no boxing, nothing, and yet 3 DAZN cards broadcast for UK subscribers.
I quit them too. Waste of money.

[maverick23]

I've thought more recently that Hearn is slowly but surely falling apart.

Markowski coming out and making a very pointed reference to Hearn not being able to get deals done because of issues with other promoters was food for thought.

This latest thing of AJ getting a huge fee to sign with Dazn and then his first fight looking likely to go to SKY PPV because Hearn negotiated all the tv rights away to the Saudis - If this bears any light, then Dazn must be absolutely fuming with that one.

This business with Okoile isn't a good look, not that I put any blame at Hearn's door for that one. Okolie has done incredibly well from Hearn matchroom. To imply he's a slave is moronic.

The signings to SKY recently remind me a lot of when Hearn appeared and started signing up a lot of established names with his excusive contract. Same thing happening again only he's on the receiving end this time.

We'll see what he's made of now, he's always bragged he likes a challenge so let's see what happens the rest of this year.

I wouldn’t say he’s falling apart. I’d imagine, financially, their boxing business has never been better. He’s the promoter of the 2 biggest confirmed fights upcoming (Canelo/GGG and AJ/Usyk) so will be getting good money out of them. I read something yesterday saying that they were getting paid £90m from the Saudis for the fight. Even if that’s close to being true then it’s crazy money. Considering people thought Frank overpaid on his £31m bid for Fury/Whyte it just shows how mental the money is.

Re: the Markowski comments, I think he’s 100% right. Eddie likes winding up the other promoters and when asked about them he’s always honest about the negatives but doesn’t give much of a balanced view. Joe’s right in that it doesn’t help make big fights - just helps the YouTube guys get more short term views.

I’d imagine DAZN can’t be happy if the fight is on Sky. Most boxer contracts will have clauses though if a fighter loses so I’d imagine they’re not on the hook for the whole contract if AJ gets well beat.

Yep - it is like it was when Eddie got the exclusive Sky contract. I thought Eddie did really well with it when he got it so let’s see what Ben and Boxxer do. It’s good for the fighters to have such a competitive market. Boxxer need headliners so makes sense for them to go after Okolie - particularly when they’ve got Riakporhe - but I’m going to struggle to have any respect for Lawrence now he’s played the race/slave card on Twitter. Things have gone quiet on Lerrone Richards too so I’d imagine he’s moving over as well but let’s see.