Hall of Famer Bob Arum has launched a scathing attack towards Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn.
The Top Rank mogul gave a damning assessment of the performance of Hearn since joining subscription-based giants DAZN in the United States.
Arum has questioned where Hearn has the assets to deliver for the platform and become a success across the Atlantic.
“Eddie Hearn is an okay guy but he’s too full of himself to really be effective,” Arum told World Boxing News in an exclusive interview.
“DAZN has him doing events in the U.S. Everybody looking at it knows that it’s a mash. He’s spending money on these ridiculous programmes on DAZN that nobody cares about.
“He’s spending more money on these shows than Haymon is on PBC. Or even what we’re doing on ESPN. (The difference is) We both understand the U.S market, which Hearn doesn’t.
“DAZN itself would be much better advised having fights other than Canelo, which will get a lot of attention. They would be much better off, DAZN turning over their domestic programming in the US to Oscar’s Golden Boy.
“At least Oscar knows the market, particularly the Hispanic market. Eddie doesn’t have a clue.
“For example, he did a fight in Philadelphia on a Friday night. There wasn’t much attendance. One of the reasons is, they sold all of the tickets out of the UK when the fight was in Philadelphia.
“That type of activity showed that it couldn’t work when the revolutionary war was fought with George Washington fighting the Brits.
“You don’t run a promotion in the U.S from the UK and have all the tickets come out of the UK. It makes no sense.
“It wouldn’t make sense if we did a fight with Frank Warren in the UK and controlled everything from the US.”
EGO
Asked if Hearn could perhaps learn from the likes of himself and arch-rival Frank Warren, Arum replied: “He could learn a thing or two from a lot of people, including his father.
“But if you’re going to be so full of yourself and spend all your time as he does, making video shots of himself giving interviews and saying outlandish things, he’s not going to be effective.
“Barry was a terrific promoter. He always knew enough to be behind the scenes. Not to be this spokesperson for Eddie’s ego and agenda,” Arum concluded.
