The Sins Of Eddie Hearn: An Interview With The Top Boxing Promoter

With or without Eddie Hearn, influencer boxing was always inevitable: a symptom of the times rather than a product of one promoter’s machinations.

At least that’s what the prolific Matchroom Sport chairman, a key mastermind behind most of modern boxing’s most consequential bouts, asserted from his dimly lit confessional booth of a hotel room.

This would be the first of three “sins” he sought absolution for during our Zoom call the day before Australia’s own George Kambosos Jr faced off against Jake Wyllie at Qudos Bank Arena.

When I draw a comparison between his relationship with the sport’s new sub-genre and how Robert J. Oppenheimer probably viewed the atomic bomb, he chuckles. 

“Jake Paul had his professional debut on my card, and I also did Logan Paul vs KSI II (one of the biggest YouTube fights ever). Yeah… you can just blame me, really,” Hearn replied. 

“I’ve kind of got a reputation as someone who loves money. I’m a businessman. But that was one of the hardest decisions – to move away from that. Because I could have stayed in there, and I could have continued doing both.” 

“Don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing experience. I’ve got very fond memories of it. We made a lot of money. It did fantastic numbers. I just didn’t feel overly comfortable in the environment, if I’m honest with you.”

Hearn continued: “It was probably one of the few times I had to make a business decision with my heart that cost me money. D’you know what I’m saying? I had to stand on my heart at that moment and go, ‘It’s just not for me.’ And that was difficult because there’s a lot of money in the space. I’m glad I did in a way.”

For his penance, I prescribe five non-existent Hail Marys before offering the assurance that history will indeed look kindly on him for pulling the parachute before it reached Netflix levels of farcical. 

“Maybe. Maybe. Yeah, hopefully. I haven’t made many decisions like that, so maybe that one will pay off,” he said.

“Everything in relation to views and clicks and numbers and hype; throwing something over someone, and throwing a chair at someone, and all this kind of stuff… it doesn’t really follow the ethos of what we’re trying to deliver for the sport, from grassroots to the elite level.” 

“But the world is changing, and we can’t just sit still.”

“A great example: when Chris Eubank Jr hit Conor Benn with an egg at a press conference, I thought that was quite disgusting. The British Boxing Board of Control fined him £100,000. The boxing fraternity was quite appalled. But it was on the front page, back page, every social media outlet.” 

“The world’s changing, and the values of people are changing. It’s an interesting dynamic. A lot of boxers can learn from how YouTubers build their profiles. The way they create their content, and the way they self-promote as well. I really like Logan Paul, I really like KSI. They’re smart guys.”

His second “sin” was believing Tyson Fury was down for the count prior to the heavyweight icon’s generational career renaissance. But truth be told, nobody could have anticipated what came next – not the Deontay Wilder trilogy (which yielded a controversial draw and two TKO wins for Fury), the collection of belts he’d add to his trophy cabinet, nor the extraordinary pugilistic history we witnessed.

“I remember our meeting very well in Monaco. He was like – you guys use kilos – so let’s say 150kg, in the worst physical shape, and he reached out to me [about promoting him],” revealed Eddie Hearn. 

“Fury said, ‘I’m going to have three fights, then I’m going to come back. I’m going to fight for the world heavyweight title and this and that.’”

“I was convinced that not only would he never win a world heavyweight title, he would never set foot in the ring again. So I pulled out of the race… how wrong was I?”

Just for the sake of financial context, Fury was recently named the third-highest-paid athlete by Forbes after earning US$146 million from the past year alone (only an estimated US$6 million was from outside the ring). Multiply this by a factor of however many since 2017, and you can begin to imagine the calibre of money Hearn potentially left on the table. Far more than whatever Logan Paul and KSI could’ve offered, that’s for certain.

Though lack of precognition ability aside, his allegiances to Anthony Joshua would’ve still precluded any contracts from being inked (“AJ is my guy, I don’t think it’d sit well with him.”). Though it does appear that he’s learned his lesson on the expectations front. Despite Fury’s two-fight skid at the hands of the indomitable unified heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk, Hearn believes the Gypsy King has a third wind in him.

“I think the only fight for Fury is Anthony Joshua,” he said. 

“I think he’s done everything. I don’t think he’s going to get motivated to start coming back and fighting young guys. But if you look at the Usyk fights, Fury performed well.”

“They were two close fights that he didn’t show any signs, necessarily, of old age or decay (if you like). He just got beaten by the pound-for-pound #1. So for me, AJ vs Fury is still a fight with two guys pretty much still in their prime.” 

“Tyson is a real boxing man through and through. I hope one day he’ll be sitting on a sofa and say, ‘Go on then, let’s do it.’ We sit and wait in anticipation.”

Two non-existent Hail Marys.

Eddie Hearn’s third and final “sin” isn’t really a sin at all. Not that any of these legitimately cut the biblical (or even immoral) mustard, but bear with me…

While it’s hard to imagine boxing in the 21st century without Eddie Hearn, recently, the much-discussed subject of his retirement coinciding with the potential float of Matchroom Sport – founded by his legendary father Barry Hearn – has loomed large. The question is: does a man like him foresee Hawaiian shirts and cocktails on some beachside resort in his own future?

“I dunno where that came from. I get asked about it all the time, but I think it was just like a Twitter – not a parody account – that said, ‘We’ve heard Eddie Hearn’s retiring and blah, blah, blah,’” he clarified. 

“When you say ‘retirement fantasies,’ I think the one thing that kind of appeals to me at times is to be left alone. D’you know what I mean? WhatsApp, WhatsApp, WhatsApp, email, email, email, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom.” 

“Then there’s the public kind of being ‘left alone’ in the UK. It’s my own fault, I wanted to build my brand alongside boxing’s brand. I’m extremely recognisable to the point where I could be out with my kids, hat on, and you just see this part of my face, and someone says, ‘That’s Eddie Hearn.’ And I’m like, ‘How did you know that?’” 

Point of fact, since this interview was conducted, an intentionally lowkey Hearn went viral for eating a store-bought sandwich at an airport, of all things.

Hearn continued: “The world of social media and memes and all the kids know I’m all across TikTok, and it’s very asphyxiating if I’m honest. And I love it. The majority of people won’t know who I am, but sports fans and boxing fans obviously will.”

“At the same time, I think I’d probably miss the madness after a few months. I love boxing. It is my ultimate passion, and I’ve been around it since I was eight years old. So yeah… But the bad news for people is I’m definitely not retiring yet.” 

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Matchroom, I dub thee a promoter, Mr Hearn.

To read our full conversation with Eddie Hearn on the state of boxing, the “under-appreciated” future icons, competing against mixed martial arts in the attention economy, his definition of success, and plenty more – keep an eye out for it in future editions of B.H. Magazine.