Eddie Hearn Responds To Bob Arum Claiming Matchroom Have Blown Away $1bn In The US
Top Rank founder Bob Arum slammed Eddie Hearn/Matchroom Boxing in several interviews last week claiming the British promoter had blown away his $1bn dollar budget with little return and is a joke in the US.
Hearn responded to Arum in an interview with ID Boxing stating that he believes his rivals have given up on promoting in the United States and thinks they will be losing their lucrative TV deal with ESPN.
“I think Top Rank are finished in America. I haven’t seen anything they’ve done this year that’s impressed me at all. They’re hiring out small arenas, their ESPN numbers are shocking. They’re going into like the Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas or Resorts World in Las Vegas, the small arena all the time at MSG”
Hearn was particularly critical of the gates and ticket sales Top Rank produced in 2022. The Virgin Hotel and Resorts World are both small venues and it would be challenging to produce a strong gate in them. For example, It was reported earlier this year that former unified champion Mikaela Mayer headlined at The Hangar in Costa Mesa and sold just 600 tickets equating to a $37,000 gate.
“They’re going to Turning Stone next for Efe Ajaga against Rivas. I think they’ve given up. They’ve probably realised that ESPN aren’t gonna be renewing their contract. Top Rank I don’t know, Top Wank maybe.”
The Matchroom chairman blasted TR for staging Ajagba Rivas as a main event fight in the US and believed it was a sign of them giving up on promoting boxing in the US. Eddie Hearn also believes that ESPN will not be renewing their TV deal with TR due to poor TV ratings.
Despite Hearn’s comments, there is nothing to suggest that this is true. The viewership on ESPN has not seen any significant change from last year although they have lacked major US-based events with the loss of Terence Crawford from their stable and Fury fighting twice in the UK.
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