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Home » Eddie Hearn admits UK PPV situation ‘not good for boxing’

Eddie Hearn admits UK PPV situation ‘not good for boxing’

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  • 3 min read

Promoter Eddie Hearn has made his feelings clear the new contenders to the Sky Sports Box Office PPV crown.

Hearn has also admitted Matchroom make the majority of their earnings from the paid format.

The likes of Anthony Joshua, Tony Bellew, Kell Brook and Dillian Whyte have all been bumped to Sky Sports Box Office in recent years. The movement is becoming a worryingly growning trend.

Other boxing outfits are now doing similar, which means fans are forced to fork out extra for fights on a regular basis.

Joshua versus Alexander Povetkin this weekend on PPV adds to the recent Canelo v Golovkin rematch. The Wembley showdown will be followed up by George Groves v Callum Smith on ITV Box Office next week. Plus Alexander Usyk v Tony Bellew in November and Deontay Wilder v Tyson Fury and Josh Warrington v Carl Frampton in December.

Current and former world champions Warrington and Frampton collide three days before Christmas and Hearn doesn’t see how it makes good numbers.

A rematch between Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora is said to be planned by Hearn for the same date.

Admitting the new competition to Sky’s domination of PPV is not healthy, Hearn doesn’t seem worried about being challenged.

“You can’t say it is good for boxing, because it is not,” Hearn told The Guardian.

“We are in a strong position now because our platform is solid and proven. But what will happen is other fighters will take risks on pay-per-views that won’t work. If the Josh Warrington v Carl Frampton fight in December does 100,000 buys on PPV I’d be astonished. So how are the fighters going to make any money?

“Sky are consistently backing boxing at a level where we can do an Amir Khan fight on Saturday and just about wipe our face.

“What sort of business is that? You work on a Khan card for three to four months, sell 8,000 tickets and as a promoter you are thinking: ‘Can I break even? Where we make our money is pay-per-view,'” he added.


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In a recent article, WBN estimated the average fan could expect to fork out almost £400 to watch every fight on offer before the New Year.

It’s a big ask, especially for the UK punters. That’s in a climate where the US (traditionally the main PPV players) is moving towards offering their supporters cheaper boxing on the several new streaming services.