Comments Thread For: Hearn: Tough To Bring Anthony Joshua To Small Overseas Venue

[LetOutTheCage]

Didn't Eddie say something about AJ fighting in Africa?

But wont come to US...?

He is African roots I believe (Nigerian from his fathers side). AJ is proud of his African heritage so why not fight in Africa? Fighting in the US would purely be for financial reasons and right now it doesn't make sense financially to fight in the US.

[Butch.McRae]

Hearn is clearly trolling, but he does raise an interesting point. The biggest fights in the US seem to max out in 15-20k capacity venues - MGM Grand, Thomas & Mack, MSG, Boardwalk, etc. You guys have the best stadia on the planet, hands down. Why aren't there more stadium fights in the US?

A lot of 50k places would sell in the US if average ticket prices were around $50 like in the UK.

In the US, for a PPV fight, average ticket prices are well over 1k. That's why the live gate totals are so large in the US.

[rdb85]

Even though there's more boxing fans in the US (I'd guess) the distance to travel city to city is much more, I'm in manchester but I could be in london or cardiff injust over 3hrs so its easier to get a popular fighter 50k in attendance for a fight without it being an overnight trip with hotels and flights. Also we are very tribal in UK especially for our own town/city fighters (might be the same in some US cities) so its easy to get 10k for even a national level fighter like a Warrington. Then you have the welsh/scottish/irish guys who will come out for anyone from there own country who has had success because as a small country they want to support their own.

Forgot to add as a nation we love going to events, look at how quickly stadium music gigs sell, WWE tv tapings, NFL games, how many nights of our olympics was sold out. We love to say we were there I think

[HarvardBlue]

Boxing isn't as popular as it once was in the US. We have NBA NFL MLB NHL and Soccer that has a way bigger fan base than boxing.

Boxing was never as popular as any of those sports. You had some popular fighter's like Ali, Leonard and others but the sport has always been looked down on in the U.S. With Mayweather retired, there isn't another American star on the horizon. If Wilder can get his act together maybe...

[Butch.McRae]

Forgot to add as a nation we love going to events, look at how quickly stadium music gigs sell, WWE tv tapings, NFL games, how many nights of our olympics was sold out. We love to say we were there I think

I'd love to know about pricing for those events. Because the economics of boxing are very different. Big ticket boxing is cheaper to consume in the UK.

Whereas in the U.S. it's about as expensive as going to the final four or playoff football game on average.

[Slimjoe]

This notion that Joshua has to fight in US is B.S. Boxers are prizefighters and they are supposed to go to where the money is.It is obvious that the heavyweight money is now in the UK.Any serious contender should travel there and fight.US fans ought to understand this, Ali fought in Africa cos Mobutu was ready to pay the dollars.Boxers fought in Vegas or New York not because of tradition rather money.They are prizefighters.

[GGG Gloveking]

He is African roots I believe (Nigerian from his fathers side). AJ is proud of his African heritage so why not fight in Africa? Fighting in the US would purely be for financial reasons and right now it doesn't make sense financially to fight in the US.

Ok, so hes proud enough of being African to fight some safari driver in the jungle, but isn't proud enough of being a world boxing champ to fight another champ in US?

[Corelone]

Hearn is clearly trolling, but he does raise an interesting point. The biggest fights in the US seem to max out in 15-20k capacity venues - MGM Grand, Thomas & Mack, MSG, Boardwalk, etc. You guys have the best stadia on the planet, hands down. Why aren't there more stadium fights in the US?

You can't see anything in a stadium. The fighters look like ants and near seats are all ground level, so looking up gives you a sore neck. OK for a team of ants on a big field.

[OgTripleOg]

Boxing was never as popular as any of those sports. You had some popular fighter's like Ali, Leonard and others but the sport has always been looked down on in the U.S. With Mayweather retired, there isn't another American star on the horizon. If Wilder can get his act together maybe...

I never said boxing was ever as popular as other sports in the US but it was way more popular back in the days. And with the UFC that has taken a lot of the newer generation. I don't think boxing will ever be as popular as it was since most atheletes go to the NCAA NBA NFL etc..

[KnickTillDeaTh]

Hearn is clearly trolling, but he does raise an interesting point. The biggest fights in the US seem to max out in 15-20k capacity venues - MGM Grand, Thomas & Mack, MSG, Boardwalk, etc. You guys have the best stadia on the planet, hands down. Why aren't there more stadium fights in the US?

Hearn admitted that he'd make a little more money fighting in a 4k US venue. The thing is boxers make more money in the US, the venue is not the reason why. Unless it's a huge fight, then ticket prices increase exponentially.