Comments Thread For: Hearn: Three Fights For Joshua in 2018, Including Overseas Bout

[Eff Pandas]

Lol. bit of both. no but seriously i could honestly see Hearn doing that, the Haye fight would be huge (for the matchroom casuals) as they know Haye.

Pulev will pick up that WBA belt and Hearn can sell that to the casuals as a 'unification' and finally the whyte rematch is a no brainer for Hearn, they can get the skysports propaganda machine to start up with the infamous 'left hook in the 2nd rnd' and 'bad blood' type crap etc
It would sell a ton.

I think Wilder is michael grant but that right hand is still legit regardless, its too much of a risk, and Miller is too high risk for too low reward (wont sell enough)

Think about it, the entire matchroom promotion dies if and when AJ gets knocked out. who else does hearn have? the corpse of kell brook? who is busy sucking off his bf in Marbella to even care about re-building his career at this stage.
Scott quigg? lol, seriously who else does Hearn have.

And AJ is hardly as loved as Frank Bruno was, his entire fanbase are not even boxing fan's they are casuals that will lose interest the second AJ gets sparked out, the whole mystique around AJ is the '0' and the KO's. Once thats ended, the interest from the casual fan who has been led to believe that AJ is the incarnation of muhammad ali (the white robe) the chatter of AJ is the 'best heavyweight from britain ever' im serious Skysports actually said that y'day . ends too. Hearn can't start the rebuilding proces on PPV.

AJ aient Ali, He's Frank Bruno lets be honest. but - the personality and lovable persona.

I was feeling you til you went full crazytown around the time of the bolded line & suggested Matchroom dies if Joshua loses lol.

Why cats always think promotions are gonna die when its just the fighters who ever go away I'll never understand. Arum's been around since Ali & Model T's. King isn't as visible as he used to be but he's still around. F#ck man I heard Tyson tell a story about beating up Frank Warren recently. Tyson's telling stories in the basement of MGM Grand & where is Warren? Still promoting fights.

Matchroom isn't going anywhere whatever happens to Joshua. Sure they will try to make the proper moves, but there is always the profit vs risk dilemma going on & I think Matchroom is better than most at maximizing it vs the milking it like I see some promoters do far too often via waiting to cash out guys. I don't think Hearn gives a flying f#ck about Joshua losing one day so much as he just wants to make as much money in the moment & ride it til the wheels fall off so to speak.

And I think thats why Hearn is one of the better promoters if not the best promoter in the game today. I think thats why Mayweather Promotions is ****** underrated. They make competitive fights &/or fights people wanna see regardless if there guys loses.

[Scipio2009]

Are you folks serious?

This is Heavyweight boxing that we're talking about, in a bumper crop age of the division, with the very top (an aged Klitschko, Joshua, Wilder, Povetkin, Ortiz, Pulev, Parker) all at about the same skills level.

You add that Joshua is basically on the money and at the cusp of being a global star (nevermind the fact that he just messed up his nose), and the path is obvious (this, without knowing the Showtime numbers):

-Joshua(c) vs Parker (c) for the WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO belts from MKO Abiola Stadium in Nigeria
[Sky Box Office is not affected, Showtime is not affected, and you create another capstone to the Anthony Joshua story] or Millennium Stadium, February/March 2018 (depending on what the nose ends up needing).

-Joshua(c) vs Wilder(c), for the undisputed heavyweight championship from T-Mobile Arena on Showtime PPV
[Joshua's American debut, on the top stage in the US, against the opponent with the most meaning, at a time where there's no other sports to compete with for attention of the American sports fan], August 2018.

-Joshua(c) vs Wilder 2 from Yankee Stadium (or again at T-Mobile) [another capstone; test the broad appeal of Joshua to the American public; on PPV] or Joshua(c) vs a mandatory challenger from Millennium Stadium in Cardiff [largest stadium that I know of in the UK with a roof on it], December 2018.

From that point on, you tick through the mandatories, staging the fights wherever the pie is the biggest (Sky Box Office, US TV, live event, international TV, etc) for however long Joshua is champion.

[Scipio2009]

Lol. bit of both. no but seriously i could honestly see Hearn doing that, the Haye fight would be huge (for the matchroom casuals) as they know Haye.

Pulev will pick up that WBA belt and Hearn can sell that to the casuals as a 'unification' and finally the whyte rematch is a no brainer for Hearn, they can get the skysports propaganda machine to start up with the infamous 'left hook in the 2nd rnd' and 'bad blood' type crap etc
It would sell a ton.

I think Wilder is michael grant but that right hand is still legit regardless, its too much of a risk, and Miller is too high risk for too low reward (wont sell enough)

Think about it, the entire matchroom promotion dies if and when AJ gets knocked out. who else does hearn have? the corpse of kell brook? who is busy sucking off his bf in Marbella to even care about re-building his career at this stage.
Scott quigg? lol, seriously who else does Hearn have.

And AJ is hardly as loved as Frank Bruno was, his entire fanbase are not even boxing fan's they are casuals that will lose interest the second AJ gets sparked out, the whole mystique around AJ is the '0' and the KO's. Once thats ended, the interest from the casual fan who has been led to believe that AJ is the incarnation of muhammad ali (the white robe) the chatter of AJ is the 'best heavyweight from britain ever' im serious Skysports actually said that y'day . ends too. Hearn can't start the rebuilding proces on PPV.

AJ aient Ali, He's Frank Bruno lets be honest. but - the personality and lovable persona.

I just think that you'd be stepping over dollars for quarters if that was actually the plan. Maybe I don't know the UK scene, but I seriously doubt that David Haye brings the type of money that people seem to think, especially at a point where he's aging and clearly not in that best of the heavyweights conversation. And the mandatories won't really grow things either.

For all of the risk in fighting Wilder, the rewards are almost unimaginable (Mayweather-Pacquiao ended up generating over $600m in revenue on their fight, so there is a number to aspire to).

Beyond that, even if he does get beat, as long as it's in a good fight, all of those fights would still do major business in the UK; Joshua-Haye, Joshua-Fury, Joshua-Dubois, etc aren't any lesser fights were Joshua to lose in a good fight and would still max out Wembley and do a ton of business on Sky Box Office.

[Scipio2009]

Lol. bit of both. no but seriously i could honestly see Hearn doing that, the Haye fight would be huge (for the matchroom casuals) as they know Haye.

Pulev will pick up that WBA belt and Hearn can sell that to the casuals as a 'unification' and finally the whyte rematch is a no brainer for Hearn, they can get the skysports propaganda machine to start up with the infamous 'left hook in the 2nd rnd' and 'bad blood' type crap etc
It would sell a ton.

I think Wilder is michael grant but that right hand is still legit regardless, its too much of a risk, and Miller is too high risk for too low reward (wont sell enough)

Think about it, the entire matchroom promotion dies if and when AJ gets knocked out. who else does hearn have? the corpse of kell brook? who is busy sucking off his bf in Marbella to even care about re-building his career at this stage.
Scott quigg? lol, seriously who else does Hearn have.

And AJ is hardly as loved as Frank Bruno was, his entire fanbase are not even boxing fan's they are casuals that will lose interest the second AJ gets sparked out, the whole mystique around AJ is the '0' and the KO's. Once thats ended, the interest from the casual fan who has been led to believe that AJ is the incarnation of muhammad ali (the white robe) the chatter of AJ is the 'best heavyweight from britain ever' im serious Skysports actually said that y'day . ends too. Hearn can't start the rebuilding proces on PPV.

AJ aient Ali, He's Frank Bruno lets be honest. but - the personality and lovable persona.

Hearn has made his bet, and it's a bet on British boxing (not sure what the deal is, but there's been no announcement of any signing with Frank Warren for either Selby or Degale, which is interesting); Joshua is the star of the 2012 UK Olympic team and Eddie Hearn has five shots at finding a star from the 2016 UK Olympic team (Joshua Buatsi and Josh Kelly seem to be the most promising). You add Callum Smith and Luke Campbell are coming onto form, and Kell Brook/Tony Bellew and others still having fight the, and to call Matchroom Sport a one fighter operation is a bit cynical.

[mlac]

Hearn has made his bet, and it's a bet on British boxing (not sure what the deal is, but there's been no announcement of any signing with Frank Warren for either Selby or Degale, which is interesting); Joshua is the star of the 2012 UK Olympic team and Eddie Hearn has five shots at finding a star from the 2016 UK Olympic team (Joshua Buatsi and Josh Kelly seem to be the most promising). You add Callum Smith and Luke Campbell are coming onto form, and Kell Brook/Tony Bellew and others still having fight the, and to call Matchroom Sport a one fighter operation is a bit cynical.

Apart from a couple of 5 fight prospects you mentioned

Bellew: last fight or 1 more max
Brook: Doesnt seem interested anymore, 2 serious beatdowns in a row, 2 bad injuries/ weight probs maybe 1-2 more
Smith: will lose to braehmer, if not will lose in final
Campbell: Spend another 5 fights building him up to world level again, only to lose again?

[Scipio2009]

Apart from a couple of 5 fight prospects you mentioned

Bellew: last fight or 1 more max
Brook: Doesnt seem interested anymore, 2 serious beatdowns in a row, 2 bad injuries/ weight probs maybe 1-2 more
Smith: will lose to braehmer, if not will lose in final
Campbell: Spend another 5 fights building him up to world level again, only to lose again?

Between the 4 names that you've mentioned, Hearn still has at least 7 events to draw business on, with that extended even more if things change (Kell Brook can still have a run at 154lbs, Callum Smith could actually win the WBSS, etc).

Have fighters to hold the attention in the various local markets, and have at least one fighter break through to the world level, and you still have a strong company without Anthony Joshua.

[Kilrain]

Between the 4 names that you've mentioned, Hearn still has at least 7 events to draw business on, with that extended even more if things change (Kell Brook can still have a run at 154lbs, Callum Smith could actually win the WBSS, etc).

Have fighters to hold the attention in the various local markets, and have at least one fighter break through to the world level, and you still have a strong company without Anthony Joshua.

Hmm, I agree that a lot is riding on Joshua for Matchroom, many of their other blue-chip guys are nearing the end, Brook, Bellew and probably Crolla among them. Campbell's not a big ticket seller and will need built back up. Whyte is garbage, as performances v Allen, Lewison and Helenius shows. They have young guns like Cordina, Kelly, Buatsi but they're all 3-4 years away from mixing it at world level or headlining shows. It seems that Matchroom's operation really hinges on AJ at the minute, if he gave up boxing tomorrow who's their figurehead? And Warren has definitely gathered momentum with Degale/Selby/Warrington/Frampton, particularly if he makes a few big British fights with the latter 3 guys at featherweight.

[Enzo Mc is SHIT]

Let's say Joshua KOs Wilder in his next fight early next year. He's 21-0 and universally recognised as the best heavyweight. Where does he go? Parker is the obvious one but his belt is pretty worthless if Joshua's already beaten Wilder. Tyson Fury won't be ready to fight in 2018, so maybe Hughie? Does anyone really care about that? David Haye is a hollow shell of the fighter who demolished Chisora and now we've all seen it. There might still be money in it, but it's not a contest.

Wilder is the fight that's the most credible and the most lucrative. It'll happen but there's absolutely no way it'll be next. People will lose interest in the heavyweight division after it's happened because there won't be any decent opposition left for the winner. Wilder should take the money to KO Whyte and see how things are looking after that. He'll get the fight but he won't get it now.

[Scipio2009]

Hmm, I agree that a lot is riding on Joshua for Matchroom, many of their other blue-chip guys are nearing the end, Brook, Bellew and probably Crolla among them. Campbell's not a big ticket seller and will need built back up. Whyte is garbage, as performances v Allen, Lewison and Helenius shows. They have young guns like Cordina, Kelly, Buatsi but they're all 3-4 years away from mixing it at world level or headlining shows. It seems that Matchroom's operation really hinges on AJ at the minute, if he gave up boxing tomorrow who's their figurehead? And Warren has definitely gathered momentum with Degale/Selby/Warrington/Frampton, particularly if he makes a few big British fights with the latter 3 guys at featherweight.

If Joshua were to retire today, Matchroom Sport would still have Kell Brook in Sheffield, Tony Bellew in Liverpool, and Crolla in Manchester (with fights like Bellew-Haye and Khan-Brook as spectacles in London). You still have Callum Smith budding in Liverpool, Katie Taylor coming onto form in her own right, and a bunch of guys starting to come onto form as regional attractions.

Kal Yafai, Jamie McDonnell, Ryan Burnett, Whyte/Chisora, "Two Tanks" Davies, Martin Ward in Leeds, and other fighters to more then fill out the schedule for Sky Sports.

It'd be a move back, but it's not like the company would vanished; they'd go back to 2015 levels for a bit (rarely on Box Office) until the next star captures the public's imagination.

Frank Warren has Warrington and Frampton signed to deals; there's nothing that's been written to suggest that he's signed Degale or Selby. You add that the depth of his roster is still suspect, and I'd hold off on calling for the takeover just yet.

[Scipio2009]

Let's say Joshua KOs Wilder in his next fight early next year. He's 21-0 and universally recognised as the best heavyweight. Where does he go? Parker is the obvious one but his belt is pretty worthless if Joshua's already beaten Wilder. Tyson Fury won't be ready to fight in 2018, so maybe Hughie? Does anyone really care about that? David Haye is a hollow shell of the fighter who demolished Chisora and now we've all seen it. There might still be money in it, but it's not a contest.

Wilder is the fight that's the most credible and the most lucrative. It'll happen but there's absolutely no way it'll be next. People will lose interest in the heavyweight division after it's happened because there won't be any decent opposition left for the winner. Wilder should take the money to KO Whyte and see how things are looking after that. He'll get the fight but he won't get it now.

If Joshua were to blow through Wilder, it'd no longer matter who the opponent was. His UK fights would be at Wembley, Old Trafford in Manchester, or Millennium Stadium in Wales, and he'd basically be at stadiums everywhere (though Las Vegas money may keep Joshua out of stadiums in the US).

He'd be sitting on at least $20m per fight, regardless of who he fights at that point.