Eddie Hearn is receptive to Oscar De La Hoya’s recent call to action to promoters.
Last week, Golden Boy’s De La Hoya exhorted rival promoters to come together and collaborate on making “all the fights the fans want to see.”
“Promoters, Eddie Hearn, Al Haymon, Bob Arum, whoever is out there, let’s come together,” De La Hoya said. “I’m calling you out. Let's come together. Let's meet. The power of the minds and come up with something, because boxing can die. I'm calling you all out. Let's do this.”
A few days later, De La Hoya, according to a post on his social media, met with Top Rank’s Arum to brainstorm matchmaking ideas.
In a recent interview, Matchroom’s Hearn confirmed that he has been talking to De La Hoya and his team about a possible super middleweight fight between Hearn’ charge, John Ryder, and Golden Boy’s Jaime Munguia. Of course, De La Hoya and Hearn have feuded through the media over the years.
Hearn also suggested another compelling match-up between the two companies: a showdown involving Golden Boy’s Ryan Garcia against the winner of the upcoming 140-pound title bout between champion Regis Prograis and challenger Devin Haney on Dec. 9 at Chase Center in San Francisco.
“He wants everybody to come together but will abuse me on social media,” Hearn said of De La Hoya in an interview with SecondsOut.com. “I don’t care for that. I want to make great fights.
“We’re talking about Munguia versus Ryder. If Munguia wins that, we’ll talk about the [Edgar] Berlanga fight. Ryan Garcia should fight the winner of Haney against Prograis. There’s loads of business we can do together.”
Hearn, however, wants De La Hoya to live up to his words.
“Talk is nice but business is different,” Hearn added.
Cross-promotional fights between Golden Boy and Matchroom should, in theory, be easy to make, since both companies have separate broadcasting deals with DAZN.
Arum’s Top Rank has an exclusive network deal with ESPN, while Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champion has its own with Showtime.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.