By Frank Warren
In response to Eddie Hearn's recent comments regarding Billy Joe Saunders and Boxnation I would like to clarify a few things.
Billy Joe Saunders never called for a fight with John Ryder. It was Eddie Hearn who instigated it in an interview with Boxing News before he publicly offered Billy a fight against Ryder on Twitter, an offer that should've come through me, his manager. In response we contacted Matchroom and offered John Ryder £10,000 to challenge Billy for his Southern Area belt on our big London show in March. When you consider that he's an unknown challenger who’s last show was on a dinner show in Chigwell, it was a fantastic offer. Matchroom came back and subsequently offered Billy, an accomplished Olympian, a paltry £6,500 to defend his title in Sheffield. What planet is this guy on when he talks about it being similar money? I've offered an unknown challenger nearly twice as much as he has offered our champion. Delusion and arrogance doesn't come close to it. Eddie then goes on to talk about TV platforms and how Sky are the only choice, more arrogance and delusion.
If Sky are as fantastic as he thinks, why is there no mention of boxing in their advertising campaign highlighting their sporting calendar for 2012? That doesn't sound like great exposure to me.
Eddie’s whole perception is baffling, even down to the very basics. Why isn’t he building Ryder a fan-base in his hometown first and make him an attraction instead of trying to make a Southern Area title fight in Sheffield?
His remarks regarding BoxNation are laughable. We are giving boxers the opportunity to fight more often than any other promoter or TV platform can possibly do as it is a dedicated channel. All of our boxers get the opportunity to fight live on TV. When was the last time Sky showed more than three fights live on a night? How many prospects get the opportunity to have their fights shown live on UK TV? BoxNation are giving quality exposure all the way from prospects up to World Champions. And I'm sure the likes of Steve Wood, Chris Aston and Stephen Vaughan are happy with the exposure their shows have got since BoxNation came into play.
I recall the same drivel being said when I left ITV for Sky in 1995 - that I would never be able to build a fighter on Satellite TV. Hatton, Collins and Calzaghe didn’t do too bad though did they?
I think my track record speaks for itself when it comes to getting exposure for fighters and helping to make them big stars. I've made more stars than he's had hot dinners. He has no track record whatsoever, but if he wants to start shelling out advice I'll happily pitch in with some of my own. His first priority must be to get a fighter of his a decent win, instead of using them as fodder for other fighters, just because he likes the bright lights himself. Harrison, McCloskey and Barker have all been beaten since they went over to Matchroom. Froch is different, and despite all his ridiculous statements about promoting him the true facts are Carl had a deal which locked him in for nearly 2 years before he signed with Matchroom, a deal Mick Hennessey did for him after years of actually building and promoting him.Walking to the ring with a fighter is not what I call promoting.
Maybe questions are being asked up at Sky about the lack of success at world level of Eddie's charges, as this is the first time in years that they cannot boast a British world champion on the network? I don't know if they are asking questions but they can't be too pleased that Boxing News did their annual awards in their last edition and our shows had the top 3 fights of 2011, with all six fighters involved from our stable and the number one British boxer of 2011was Ricky Burns, and the only place to see them all is on BoxNation.
The fixture list on Box Nation is incomparable to Sky’s. By mid-March BoxNation will have shown at least seven World title fights already in 2012, three of those fights will involve British boxers. What are Sky showing that even comes close? An Intercontinental unification fight between Hatton and Brook. Do me a favour. When Kell was with me he was offered Mike Jones, in writing by me and Bob Arum, and he turned it down but all I keep hearing now is how he is being fast tracked since we went our separate ways but he is still calling out the same fighter he could've faced over a year ago, at a time when he had a number 1 ranking with a governing body. He's still fighting for Intercontinental belts against domestic opposition. He's been there and done that when he fought Michael Jennings, our best welterweight domestically at the time.
BoxNation is a dedicated boxing channel whilst Sky is a multisport channel. BoxNation is not in competition with them. It is focused only on delivering quality boxing and since its September launch it has shown 15 World Title fights and a dozen or so British, European, Commonwealth and Area title fights. It’s delivering boxing at all levels, with Amateur boxing being showcased too.
I suggest Hearn Jr. concentrate on his own promotions and stop worrying about BoxNation. Given his recent track record in the ‘big’ fights and his inability to get a World Champion, he needs to work on his own shows and capabilities and stop losing sleep over mine.
In Boxing you are measured on your achievements whereas to date Eddie has achieved nothing but get three of his top boxers, which others had invested in and built up (and Audley), knocked off on other promoters shows.
Eddie says he’d never “con the public” yet spent weeks on end selling them a ridiculous notion that Audley would actually beat David Haye on PPV. I wonder how many PPV customers and punters who believed his pitch, would agree with him on that one?
