By Shaun Brown
Belfast rocked and yet another Prizefighter success; a good couple of weeks for Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing. It was the beginning of a pivotal period which includes two possible trips to Atlantic City before the end of the year. But before messrs Barker and Froch attempt to rip off their underdog tags, Britain’s fastest growing promoter talked about everything from Amir Khan to Twitter.
“I’ve watched McCloskey v Prescott on TV since that night at the Odyssey. And I can see why everyone had it so close. Being honest with you I gave it McCloskey, gave it to him by two. From the sixth round he controlled the fight. The noise and atmosphere was unbelievable. They all went potty even when Paul was throwing but not landing his shots. And regarding the complaints from Prescott’s team they’ve got to understand that when you come to the home town of a fighter you have to win the fight, you have to earn it.”
“Paul’s not going to return until March time. The victory over Prescott will improved his rating no end. Now we have to obviously fight [Rene Marcos] Maidana! But listen there’s eight people wanting paid on his team, that’s before we even deal with Maidana. We had 7,000 in Belfast and I think a Maidana fight would bring in 10 to 12,000 with the backing of Sky TV. We’re a lucrative opponent for anyone now.”
On Carl Frampton:
“Quon was a tough, tough kid for Carl. He was so focused though and he’d trained so hard for Kiko Martinez. Situation is now that Martinez has a mandatory with Rendall Munroe, we did try to get them to relinquish the title and get Frampton to fight for it. But we can make the fight if Munroe wins.”
“We’re looking to get Carl back in an eight rounder at the end of November, beginning of December unless a title fight can be made in the meantime.”
On offering the fight to Willie Casey:
“People have to get real in boxing. They need to realise what they actually bring to the table. We offered the fight to Casey but he wanted three times the purse he’d normally get! Frampton would smash him to bits anyway. I’m not sure Casey wants the fight to be honest. Maybe that’s why he made that demand. He probably thought to himself I don’t mind taking the loss if I get paid that kind of money.”
On domestic fights:
“We’ve got Rees v Mathews on the same night as Barker v Martinez. What a night that’s going to be. There are so many great domestic fights out there; Sykes v Buckland, Crolla v Limond, Price v McDermott – well I suppose that’s reasonably interesting.”
On Cleverly v Bellew:
“It’s a great domestic fight but it’s not a world title fight. But it is what it is. Honestly it’s a British, Commonwealth or European title fight and no more. You have to ask how the hell Tony Bellew can get a world title fight. One minute he’s fighting Bob Ajisafe, then getting put on his backside by Ovill McKenzie, the rematch was a joke because he ran all night, and the next he’s fighting for the WBO title!”
On Barker v Martinez
“It’s a huge, huge night. Darren is so confident. We had the offer for him of Sturm or Chavez and Darren was like, “Yeah, alright I suppose”, but the one he desperately wanted was Martinez”
“We promoted Martinez when he fought Richard Williams over here. And being honest he’s really a light middleweight. He’s fought ginger neck [Dzinzuruk] and people that were maybe past their best in [Kelly] Pavlik and [Paul] Williams, plus he’s getting old himself. Darren is in the shape of life. In life and in sport it’s rare that an opportunity like this comes up. And 110% he believes he wins this fight. Darren has no pressure at all – it’s all on Martinez. They’ve got to do a demolition job on Darren to look good. He’s got to force the fight. But he’s got a habit of lunging in and if he does then Darren’s gonna be there waiting for him.”
On Kell Brook:
“I’d like a fight with [Andre] Berto eventually. Kell’s still a work in progress still but come March he’ll be ready for that world title.”
“At this stage of Kell’s career there’s no reason to put him in as an underdog. The first step was the [Lovemore] N’Dou fight. Brook needed a learning fight and he never had one beforehand. He needed a guy who was semi world class and N’Dou is that.”
On Amir Khan:
“I respect him as a fighter but he needs to get real. He’s never really been in big fights let’s be honest. Judah? That was a terrible fight.”
“We’ve got fights for him. A fight with Kell can be made and he brings his own world title to the table then its 50-50 and nothing less.”
On Froch v Ward
“Everyone’s talking about how Carl’s going to be out boxed but if you’d pick one guy to beat Andre Ward, you’d pick Carl Froch. He’s never going to give up; he’s going to take him into the trenches. Carl always finds a way to win and people really don’t know how hard this guy punches. Andre’s a terrific fighter but is he tough? We’ll find out.”
On Twitter:
“I was reluctant to go on at first. I saw it as an intrusion of privacy. But it’s been a great tool for Matchroom and our boxers. I’ve got 8,000 followers now, unbelievable. Even though we work in other sports I’d say 80 or 90% of those followers are boxing fans. I listen to what they want and what they have to say. It’s a great way for me to communicate to people. Listen, boxing fans are really intelligent people and I want to know what they’re thinking because it can benefit us, them and the sport.”