Eddie Hearn says American boxing industry want to freeze him out, finds it a flattering gesture

[Ruthless-RKO]

Eddie Hearn says American boxing industry want to freeze him out, finds it a flattering gesture

Hearn says despite the resistance he’s facing, his ambitions for Matchroom Boxing are global.



We all know the promoter wars between Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn and Mayweather Promotion’s Leonard Ellerbe has been heating up lately. In this video interview with our friends at Fight Hub TV, Hearn dishes more on the origin of his static with Ellerbe and how there’s been a concerted effort by the American boxing industry to make things as hard as possible for him. Check out some of what Hearn had to say below.

Hearn on the genesis on his beef with Leonard Ellerbe

“It was a betting company in the UK that put up odds on the fight and I guess we live in a world where these exhibition fights become talked about and quite big. I made it clear that if I got $10M for that fight I would consider it. The split would have to be 90/10, obviously, because Leonard does like two shows a year and I do 50.

“I can’t fight either, really. Don’t know if he can, probably not. I think he can a little bit but he’s a lot older than me. So it’s a good 50/50 fight, but I don’t think you’re gonna see it any time soon.”

On Ellerbe publicly stating Canelo’s last fight performed horribly on PPV

“It did unbelievable numbers, did 600,000 buys, which a tremendous first effort. But these people, don’t matter if it’s Leonard of Bob (Arum) — but you got to understand how this game works. It’s Me v. Them. And it’s so fuckin’ flattering. You imagine some Brit coming to America and the whole of the American industry ganging up, if you like, to try and freeze me out.

“And you can imagine I’m talking Leonard, Lou DiBella, Bob Arum, Stephen Espinoza — ‘fornicate, do that. You see that? Say this, say that. Say I only did these amount of numbers, call it Dark Zone. Yeah, that was good, keep going, keep going.’ And all the energy that they’re using is just like evaporates, while my energy — which is why I can go fuckin’ Australia, Jeddah, San Antonio, and LA all in week and smash it up. We’ve got much bigger plans for all this.

“So what I’m experiencing in the US is only what I experienced in the UK when I started, which was resistance from the industry. But that’s flattering in a way. I want to leave a mark wherever I go. I’m not interested in conforming, I’m not interested in pretending to be something I’m not, going in and making friends with these people and being two-faced. I’ll be friendly, but I’m gonna speak my mind, and I’m gonna use my sarcastic British tongue that sometimes goes completely over people’s heads, and I’m gonna be myself. And you don’t have to like me, or you can like me, but you will respect me when everything’s over.

“And people like Leonard Ellerbe, when I look at what I’m doing in the sport versus what he’s doing in the sport — and this is no criticism of him, I think he’s done a great job with Tank — but there’s levels and levels between us. I’m taking the sport to a global scale, doing shows around the world of unprecedented size. And he’s just doing two or three shows a year.

“Also, it’s good, people talking about me in America: Bob, Leonard, Espinoza, Lou. It’s helping my profile massively in the States, which they don’t really realize. So, the more, the merrier. And I never take it personally. You never see me raising my voice or swearing at people or telling them I’m going to knock them out when I see them or stomp on their head! Like, they’ve completely lost their mind.

“They want me out. If I was so useless, if I was such a clown, why would you want me out so bad? So bad! They would dance in the streets if I retreated from America. Bad news, though. No way. We’re just getting started here and America is just part of the plan...It’s a real global vision for the sport.”

[garethhop]

In the US he puts on Canelo's fights which would happen anyway, did a great co-promotion on Katie Taylor in fairness, and other than that has put on 2 shows in the first half of the year.

He's found a profitable niche but he just doesn't seem to have been able to get the foothold he wanted in the USA probably due to DAZN's plans as much as anything.

[Ruthless-RKO]

In the US he puts on Canelo's fights which would happen anyway, did a great co-promotion on Katie Taylor in fairness, and other than that has put on 2 shows in the first half of the year.

He's found a profitable niche but he just doesn't seem to have been able to get the foothold he wanted in the USA probably due to DAZN's plans as much as anything.

also he's 'promoting' the Canelo-GGG fight like he's made the deal.

They probably needed him for DAZN that's all.

Canelo and GGG manager and promote themselves.

Could have been on SHO ppv, but GGG is tied down to DAZN.

[stujones]

In the US he puts on Canelo's fights which would happen anyway, did a great co-promotion on Katie Taylor in fairness, and other than that has put on 2 shows in the first half of the year.

He's found a profitable niche but he just doesn't seem to have been able to get the foothold he wanted in the USA probably due to DAZN's plans as much as anything.

also he's 'promoting' the Canelo-GGG fight like he's made the deal.

They probably needed him for DAZN that's all.

Canelo and GGG manager and promote themselves.

Could have been on SHO ppv, but GGG is tied down to DAZN.

Its also probably at the shittest time the fight has happened - least interested after Canelo lost to Bivol and his #1 P4P status.

[coneye]

Course they want to freeze him out ,, got news for Eddie the british promoters will want him to piss off has well ,, Its all about MONEY he earns a lot and others want it ,

[Ruthless-RKO]

Floyd Mayweather CEO: Canelo vs Bivol PPV numbers were 120k

Floyd Mayweather CEO Leonard Ellerbe turned up the heat on rival Eddie Hearn with claims on the Canelo vs. Bivol PPV.

Ellerbe is embroiled in a deep mutual dislike with Hearn over their handling of situations in the sport.

On more than one occasion, Ellerbe has accused Hearn of slating fights for no reason. On the other hand, Hearn believes Ellerbe doesn’t want him to succeed in the United States.

The petty back and forth seems to be coming to a head, with UK bookmakers even offering odds on the pair fighting.

More mud got slung over the fence again recently, on both sides. This time, Ellerbe responded to Hearn’s comments on Canelo vs. GGG 3 being far more significant than Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford.

Floyd Mayweather CEO
“Do you honestly think fans were going to an app [DAZN] that nobody watches anyway to buy a Pay Per View [Canelo vs. Bivol] that his fans cared nothing about?

“If that were the case, the live gate would have been double that. When have you seen Canelo fight on the Mexican holiday and do nine million [dollars] [in gate receipts]?”

Responding to fans saying Ellerbe was just taking Canelo off his pedestal, he added: “You know zero abt the business of boxing and the numbers.

“Canelo’s popularity and numbers have declined since he left Golden Boy and HBO. But he definitely got the bag, and I respect that.

Canelo vs Bivol PPV numbers
“[But] Canelo just did 120k on satellite and cable in the US. I repeat, that has never ever happened. Do you know how bad that is?

“Yeah, it was terrible compared to the big [stuff] he’s done in Vegas in the past, but they slashed ticket prices three times.

“You could get a room at the MGM [Grand] on fight night for a $179 on the Mexican holiday weekend. Have you been in Vegas for a Canelo fight for the holiday [you can never get a room]?

“[I’m] not pocket watching, [I’m] just giving some of you dummies the facts as opposed to repeating the dumb [stuff].

“You can’t tell me [anything] about the bizz [sic] of boxing. [I’ve] been doing this at the highest level for many, many years. Check the resume.

“Nelo [sic] just lost, and he did 120k buys combined on cable and satellite in the US. I repeat 120k combined with a nine million [dollar] live gate, and that’s a fact.”

[maverick23]

Floyd Mayweather CEO: Canelo vs Bivol PPV numbers were 120k

Floyd Mayweather CEO Leonard Ellerbe turned up the heat on rival Eddie Hearn with claims on the Canelo vs. Bivol PPV.

Ellerbe is embroiled in a deep mutual dislike with Hearn over their handling of situations in the sport.

On more than one occasion, Ellerbe has accused Hearn of slating fights for no reason. On the other hand, Hearn believes Ellerbe doesn’t want him to succeed in the United States.

The petty back and forth seems to be coming to a head, with UK bookmakers even offering odds on the pair fighting.

More mud got slung over the fence again recently, on both sides. This time, Ellerbe responded to Hearn’s comments on Canelo vs. GGG 3 being far more significant than Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford.

Floyd Mayweather CEO
“Do you honestly think fans were going to an app [DAZN] that nobody watches anyway to buy a Pay Per View [Canelo vs. Bivol] that his fans cared nothing about?

“If that were the case, the live gate would have been double that. When have you seen Canelo fight on the Mexican holiday and do nine million [dollars] [in gate receipts]?”

Responding to fans saying Ellerbe was just taking Canelo off his pedestal, he added: “You know zero abt the business of boxing and the numbers.

“Canelo’s popularity and numbers have declined since he left Golden Boy and HBO. But he definitely got the bag, and I respect that.

Canelo vs Bivol PPV numbers
“[But] Canelo just did 120k on satellite and cable in the US. I repeat, that has never ever happened. Do you know how bad that is?

“Yeah, it was terrible compared to the big [stuff] he’s done in Vegas in the past, but they slashed ticket prices three times.

“You could get a room at the MGM [Grand] on fight night for a $179 on the Mexican holiday weekend. Have you been in Vegas for a Canelo fight for the holiday [you can never get a room]?

“[I’m] not pocket watching, [I’m] just giving some of you dummies the facts as opposed to repeating the dumb [stuff].

“You can’t tell me [anything] about the bizz [sic] of boxing. [I’ve] been doing this at the highest level for many, many years. Check the resume.

“Nelo [sic] just lost, and he did 120k buys combined on cable and satellite in the US. I repeat 120k combined with a nine million [dollar] live gate, and that’s a fact.”

It probably was 120k buys or something on the traditional TV PPV channels. He’s not including the DAZN PPV numbers though which will be the bulk of it.

I find Ellerbe quite sad to be honest and don’t think he’s good for boxing only wanting I -house fights. Eddie’s cheeky with everyone and winds them up but Ellerbe threatening to punch him next time he sees him and say he’s going to stomp him out is high school stuff.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Floyd Mayweather CEO: Canelo vs Bivol PPV numbers were 120k

Floyd Mayweather CEO Leonard Ellerbe turned up the heat on rival Eddie Hearn with claims on the Canelo vs. Bivol PPV.

Ellerbe is embroiled in a deep mutual dislike with Hearn over their handling of situations in the sport.

On more than one occasion, Ellerbe has accused Hearn of slating fights for no reason. On the other hand, Hearn believes Ellerbe doesn’t want him to succeed in the United States.

The petty back and forth seems to be coming to a head, with UK bookmakers even offering odds on the pair fighting.

More mud got slung over the fence again recently, on both sides. This time, Ellerbe responded to Hearn’s comments on Canelo vs. GGG 3 being far more significant than Errol Spence vs. Terence Crawford.

Floyd Mayweather CEO
“Do you honestly think fans were going to an app [DAZN] that nobody watches anyway to buy a Pay Per View [Canelo vs. Bivol] that his fans cared nothing about?

“If that were the case, the live gate would have been double that. When have you seen Canelo fight on the Mexican holiday and do nine million [dollars] [in gate receipts]?”

Responding to fans saying Ellerbe was just taking Canelo off his pedestal, he added: “You know zero abt the business of boxing and the numbers.

“Canelo’s popularity and numbers have declined since he left Golden Boy and HBO. But he definitely got the bag, and I respect that.

Canelo vs Bivol PPV numbers
“[But] Canelo just did 120k on satellite and cable in the US. I repeat, that has never ever happened. Do you know how bad that is?

“Yeah, it was terrible compared to the big [stuff] he’s done in Vegas in the past, but they slashed ticket prices three times.

“You could get a room at the MGM [Grand] on fight night for a $179 on the Mexican holiday weekend. Have you been in Vegas for a Canelo fight for the holiday [you can never get a room]?

“[I’m] not pocket watching, [I’m] just giving some of you dummies the facts as opposed to repeating the dumb [stuff].

“You can’t tell me [anything] about the bizz [sic] of boxing. [I’ve] been doing this at the highest level for many, many years. Check the resume.

“Nelo [sic] just lost, and he did 120k buys combined on cable and satellite in the US. I repeat 120k combined with a nine million [dollar] live gate, and that’s a fact.”

It probably was 120k buys or something on the traditional TV PPV channels. He’s not including the DAZN PPV numbers though which will be the bulk of it.

I find Ellerbe quite sad to be honest and don’t think he’s good for boxing only wanting I -house fights. Eddie’s cheeky with everyone and winds them up but Ellerbe threatening to punch him next time he sees him and say he’s going to stomp him out is high school stuff.

I didn’t know it was available on the traditional tv PPV channels.

Either way. Ellerbe could have just made the numbers up.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Ellerbe and the rest obviously don’t like how Hearn has just come to the UK and started putting on big shoes immediately and working with the best boxers.

I don’t think they’ll feel threatened, but it’s very sad.

[maverick23]

Ellerbe and the rest obviously don’t like how Hearn has just come to the UK and started putting on big shoes immediately and working with the best boxers.

I don’t think they’ll feel threatened, but it’s very sad.

They should feel threatened but he should focus on doing a better job rather than making threats and whining.

[handsofstone]

Hearn said himself a lot of what he says is tongue firmly in cheek but the Yanks are an odd bunch or at least most of them are, they just don't get British sense of humour and take everything too literally and dont do sarcasm

Ellerbe is a weirdo, all he does on twitter is slate Eddie and tell everyone how big of a star Gervonta Davis is, does he even promote anyone else? If so maybe he needs to take a leaf out of Hearn's book and slut himself out to get his stable exposure

[Counter-puncher]

Eddie does seem to inspire that kind of toxic jealousy in people in general, and rivals in particular

[daz74]

Hearn said himself a lot of what he says is tongue firmly in cheek but the Yanks are an odd bunch or at least most of them are, they just don't get British sense of humour and take everything too literally and dont do sarcasm

Ellerbe is a weirdo, all he does on twitter is slate Eddie and tell everyone how big of a star Gervonta Davis is, does he even promote anyone else? If so maybe he needs to take a leaf out of Hearn's book and slut himself out to get his stable exposure

I think he promotes Rolando Romero too

[Ruthless-RKO]

Hearn said himself a lot of what he says is tongue firmly in cheek but the Yanks are an odd bunch or at least most of them are, they just don't get British sense of humour and take everything too literally and dont do sarcasm

Ellerbe is a weirdo, all he does on twitter is slate Eddie and tell everyone how big of a star Gervonta Davis is, does he even promote anyone else? If so maybe he needs to take a leaf out of Hearn's book and slut himself out to get his stable exposure

I think he promotes Rolando Romero too

He works for Mayweather Promotions.

[handsofstone]

Hearn said himself a lot of what he says is tongue firmly in cheek but the Yanks are an odd bunch or at least most of them are, they just don't get British sense of humour and take everything too literally and dont do sarcasm

Ellerbe is a weirdo, all he does on twitter is slate Eddie and tell everyone how big of a star Gervonta Davis is, does he even promote anyone else? If so maybe he needs to take a leaf out of Hearn's book and slut himself out to get his stable exposure

I think he promotes Rolando Romero too

As well as Isaac Cruz, basically everyone Davis fights

[margaret thatcher]

eddie triggers a lot of dudes for some reason, when it comes to the yanks the pbc fanbois especially

[liamlion]

Not a strong selling feature when you’re trying to attract big name signings in the US. This has to be a worry for Hearn. He basically can’t land his clients top fights in the US with the exception of Canelo.

DAZN is just not happening.

[ashall]

Not a strong selling feature when you’re trying to attract big name signings in the US. This has to be a worry for Hearn. He basically can’t land his clients top fights in the US with the exception of Canelo.

DAZN is just not happening.

Alarm bells should have started ringing when he couldn’t make Haney v Kambosos on DAZN despite Haney being a Matchroom fighter and Kambosos’ last 2 fights pre-Haney being on Matchroom shows.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Not a strong selling feature when you’re trying to attract big name signings in the US. This has to be a worry for Hearn. He basically can’t land his clients top fights in the US with the exception of Canelo.

DAZN is just not happening.

Alarm bells should have started ringing when he couldn’t make Haney v Kambosos on DAZN despite Haney being a Matchroom fighter and Kambosos’ last 2 fights pre-Haney being on Matchroom shows.

Yh. Kam is a DiBella fighter and he wanted to do business with Arum rather than Hearn.

[liamlion]

Not a strong selling feature when you’re trying to attract big name signings in the US. This has to be a worry for Hearn. He basically can’t land his clients top fights in the US with the exception of Canelo.

DAZN is just not happening.

Alarm bells should have started ringing when he couldn’t make Haney v Kambosos on DAZN despite Haney being a Matchroom fighter and Kambosos’ last 2 fights pre-Haney being on Matchroom shows.

Yep, big-time. And the way he couldnt get Andrande any meaningful fights at 160lbs.

Hearn also conceded that he couldnt offer Crawford anything at 147lbs because PBC owned all the belts and so wouldnt be making a play for him. Must be incredibly frustrating.

[Ruthless-RKO]

DAZN Exec Admonishes Promoters For Quarreling: We Don’t Want Our Brand Associated With That Kind of Behavior

A top boxing executive at DAZN wants nothing to do with the often entertaining, if highly trivial, war of words between boxing’s top promoters.

Joe Markowski, an executive vice president at the subscription streaming service, expressed his dismay with the way certain promoters denigrate each other repeatedly through the media, including the promoters exclusively aligned with the platform.

Markowski, in particular, pointed to the behavior of Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, one of DAZN’s key content providers. Hearn has had longstanding and at times vitriolic rows with Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, which promotes boxing star Gervonta Davis. Mayweather Promotions does exclusive business with Premier Boxing Champions, a company that Hearn admits he has a “poor” relationship with and that Ellerbe often speaks for. Hearn’s spats with Ellerbe have repeatedly gone viral in the boxing world.

Although he did not mention him by name, Markowski also presumably was referring to Oscar De La Hoya, the head of Golden Boy Promotions, which also does important business with DAZN. De La Hoya recently had some strong words for Hearn, blaming him, among other things, for Canelo Alvarez’s loss to Dmitry Bivol in their light heavyweight title bout in May.

The back-and-forth exchanges are not something that Markowski wants to encourage. Indeed, the executive even seemed to suggest that they have taken action against their promoters who have spoken out too forcefully against rival industry power brokers.

Markowksi believes the internecine squabbling only alienates other competitors with whom DAZN may want to work with on big fights down the line.

“What we won’t do is – and you’ve never seen us do this – get into a back and forth with other promoters, dismissing them, dismissing the prospect of working together,” Markowski told BS.com at a press conference Monday in Manhattan for Canelo-Alvarez-Gennadiy Golovkin III.

Markowski expressed concern that verbal tiffs between Hearn and other rival promoters would only hurt the DAZN brand. DAZN and Hearn's Matchroom entered a significant rights deal in 2018, with the US market as a focal point. Last year, the two parties signed a new deal to focus on the UK market.

“We don’t want our promoters to do that (engage in quarrels), which they do,” Markowski continued. “Our promoters do that. Eddie does it. We slap them on the wrists. We don’t want our brand associated with that kind of behavior because we don’t think it is conducive to doing our job properly.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

On Ellerbe claiming Canelo vs. Bivol did 120,000 buys, Hearn added: “It did unbelievable numbers, did 600,000 buys, which a tremendous first effort

[maverick23]

On Ellerbe claiming Canelo vs. Bivol did 120,000 buys, Hearn added: “It did unbelievable numbers, did 600,000 buys, which a tremendous first effort

Because the numbers Ellerbe is referring to are just traditional TV PPV buys. People will probably believe it though.

[cormack]

I feel its a matter of when not if for Matchroom to sign a big US name and really piss them off .

[steve689]

He’s right, they are trying to freeze him out. He went into America very aggressively and over confident. Talked a lot of trash and annoyed a lot of established figures. They all rounded on him.

It is a flattering gesture but it’s also frozen him out to a degree, so I doubt Eddie is buzzing about the fact he’s been actively blocked out over there. Flattering or not.

Interesting comment he made at the opening Aussie press conference for Paro-Jarvis: “I come in peace”.