Eddie Hearn put on the defensive as he is warned he could be put out of business by his own innovation
EDDIE HEARN has rubbished suggestions that Saudi bigwig Turki Alalshikh could put him out of a job after being warned that he could be made redundant.
The entire boxing landscape has been transformed by the Chairman of the Kingdom’s General Entertainment Authority, who brokered a whopping but ill-fated £100million two-fight deal between Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder.
Alalshikh, thanks to his bottomless pit of money and eagerness to make fights fans want to see, is now the biggest mover and shaker in the sport.
And his grand plans of making a singular boxing league could essentially render promoters redundant.
Hearn was warned about potentially losing his job by talkSPORT’s Simon Jordan, who said: “We are in a unique period.
“These guys are getting these fights made for them. They just turn up and that, to me, is not much of a skillset.
“It does make me wonder if the end goal is if the Saudis say, ‘What do we need these guys for? They are glorified agents, we can own the fighters.’
“Unless there was a bloody good reason, why would I deal with Hearn and [Frank] Warren.
“If I’ve got the ability to turn out their lights economically what do I need them for?”
But Matchroom Boxing boss Hearn insists promoters like himself and Frank Warren are still imperative to the sport and Alalshikh’s future plans.
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He replied: “I think that is a little bit harsh.
“We have got a huge business of running global sports.
“The ability runs deeper than being a glorified agent and a deal maker.
“A few weeks ago we ran the Riyadh Season USA, with a Matchroom team of 40 people.
“It was an event that couldn’t have been done without us in terms of promoting, the infrastructure of TV deals, licensing, dealing with commission, local governments and council.
“The job is just incredible and as the size of the shows increase and the job changes.
“This isn’t a situation of going in and doing a deal and taking a cut.
“Ourselves and Queensberry do a huge amount of work and the requirement of these people and that Turki Alalshikh requires, it is not easy to do it yourself.”
Hearn has built a fruitful relationship with Alalshikh and is confident he doesn’t want mass casualties in the sport.
The 45-year-old continued: “He also acknowledges he wants the ecosystem of boxing to keep it thriving.
“Riyadh Season will not on its own keep boxing alive.
“There are hundreds of shows around the world every week, small hall etc, we can’t just rely on five or six Riyadh Season events.
“But yeah there has been an explosion of boxing, but he can’t live without our stable and Frank Warren’s stable.
“At the moment I think the relationship is great and I don’t think he wants to put everyone out of business.”
Boxing’s top promoters are in talks with Alalshikh over a blockbuster league, although Hearn insists there’s a “huge amount of work to take place” in order for it to come to fruition.
He later said: “Of course, we are in those conversations with him, it is all part of the strategy and plans that are being discussed.
“Don’t forget these kinds of plans have taken place before.
“But not necessarily with the depths of budgets that have taken place before, but we are all in for it.”