By Steve Kim
Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Sports will be embarking on their initial promotion in the United States on November 11th in Long Island, New York, with a card that will be headlined by his newest client, middleweight contender Danny Jacobs, who will be paired with Luis Arias.
Hearn, one of the most successful promoters in the game, gave an interesting answer when asked about the current state of the boxing industry.
"I can talk to you about the UK market. I would say that the boxing market is financially in a terrible state and probably in the U.S., as well, because the models all wrong," he said, while at the Forum on September 23rd where he saw his man, Luke Campbell, came up just a bit short in his attempt to win the WBA lightweight title against Jorge Linares.
"People look at boxing in 2017 and say, 'Boxing's massive!! Look at all these great fights.' Who's making money? OK, it's a great time to be a fighter because people are getting over-paid so therefore people are coming into boxing, investors are coming into boxing and investing in models, in my opinion, that are fundamentally flawed," continued Hearn, who does robust business with IBF heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, who is one of the biggest attractions in the sport.
Hearn continued - "When somebody has got that investment money and the purses go up - and the World Boxing Super Series is a good example of that - and then it sort of breaks the market and then so how many people are successful in the market? How many people are making money in the market? I'm not talking about fighters, I'm talking about promoters.
"Look, in the U.K. I think we're the only promoter who's making money and it's not a case of how great we are, 'look at us we're making money' - we're making money, the fighters are making money, we're selling out arena's, the broadcasters are happy, the model is good."
Matchroom Sports has an exclusive output deal with Sky Sports in England.
Hearn noted to BoxingScene.com one key difference between the boxing business in Europe and America.
"So over here, the revenue stream comes from 80-percent TV, 20-percent gate. In England, it's probably flipped. So I have no choice but to sell out arena's because I'm not getting the TV money like HBO and Showtime are paying. So we're under more pressure," said Hearn, who did get a multi-fight commitment from HBO on Jacobs.
The November 11th card will take place from the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
"So listen, if I can come to America and get the gate and the TV money, great But it's going to be really interesting to see," Hearn stated. "I'm looking forward to November and see what we can do."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com
