Can't speak for outside the UK, but in the UK boxing community Hearn's painted as a villain for class-related reasons. In the 90/00s Sky Sports helped redefine football as being an inherently middle-class form of entertainment, and that its default platform of experience was TV. Beforehand - and even though more people still watched the matches on TV than in the stands - it was widely seen as a sport whose fans were more likely to be working-class, and whose default mode of experience was watching the game live.
Eddie Hearn and Matchroom have done something similar in the last 10 years in the UK with how they've grown boxing on Sky. Boxing - and expressing your interest in it - is far less controversial than it used to be, because it's become less oriented towards working-class white males.
The criticism Hearn gets is from those white males, as well as promoters whose marketing strategies are more old-fashioned and therefore based around them, such as Frank Warren. Personally, and even though the Sky-ification of a sport makes it a bit soulless, I still prefer the 'new' boxing and football to their older counterparts.
Edit:
To those that claim Hearn's not affected the US because he's not put on any shows there, that's not quite true IMO, because the boxing business isn't made up of completely separated markets. Hearn's growth of the UK boxing game shifts the centre of the wider boxing business towards the UK. Please, please note that I didn't say 'to the UK'; the US market is still the most developed, just that others are developing towards its level, and influencing it in the process.
Eddie Hearn and Matchroom have done something similar in the last 10 years in the UK with how they've grown boxing on Sky. Boxing - and expressing your interest in it - is far less controversial than it used to be, because it's become less oriented towards working-class white males.
The criticism Hearn gets is from those white males, as well as promoters whose marketing strategies are more old-fashioned and therefore based around them, such as Frank Warren. Personally, and even though the Sky-ification of a sport makes it a bit soulless, I still prefer the 'new' boxing and football to their older counterparts.
Edit:
To those that claim Hearn's not affected the US because he's not put on any shows there, that's not quite true IMO, because the boxing business isn't made up of completely separated markets. Hearn's growth of the UK boxing game shifts the centre of the wider boxing business towards the UK. Please, please note that I didn't say 'to the UK'; the US market is still the most developed, just that others are developing towards its level, and influencing it in the process.
Comment