By Steve Kim
Last week, it was announced by Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sports the formation of an American affiliate (Matchoom USA) and a new streaming platform(DAZN) that will produce 16 fight cards in the States a year beginning this September and will have a budget over a billion dollars over an eight year stretch.
The venture is a partnership between Hearn and international media company Perform Group.
Hearn made it clear that he will be signing new boxers to add to his already deep stable that includes IBF heavyweight titlist, Anthony Joshua (who at least initially will not be a part of this package).
Some wonder if this is just another version of what the Premiere Boxing Champions [PBC] tried to do a few years ago as they flooded the market back in 2015.
PBC came out flying, with a war chest of money from investors, as they signed an army of fighters and were staging fights on NBC, Spike TV, Fox, Showtime and other outlets.
But eventually the war chest of money dried up, and so did the televised dates - which were predominantly time buys.
"Well, they didn't have a platform, they bought airtime - that's the first thing. They had no broadcaster paying them money. They had an investment group that gave them money to acquire fighters, which they did very well but they didn't make progress with the money," pointed out Hearn, when he was asked this question.
"We can't make the same mistakes, the difference is we have a platform behind us. So we have rights fees. We don't have an amount of money to build a brand to sign fighters - we have rights fees to deliver shows. That's difference."
Hearn pointed out,"We have bigger rights fees than HBO, Showtime put together. But if I fail, I've really done a bad job."
Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com
