Eddie Hearn plays down concerns Anthony Joshua vs Alexander Povetkin will not sell out
Eddie Hearn has played down concerns that Anthony Joshua's defence of three heavyweight titles would not draw 80,000 fans to Wembley Stadium.
Hearn, Joshua's promoter, reasoned the casual boxing fan may not have heard of challenger Alexander Povetkin so ticket sales may be slow for the time being. He also insists, however, that Povetkin is Joshua's most dangerous opponent since Wladimir Klitschko, whom he defeated in April 2017.
"There will be 80,000 there on the night," said Hearn. "We had done 70,000 a month ago. It has been slower than Klitschko and (Joseph) Parker. The only thing that aggravates me is that anyone in boxing I have spoken to says it is a tough fight, whereas the man on the street goes to me ‘when’s the (Deontay) Wilder fight?’ I say he has to get through Povetkin first and they say ‘he’ll knock him out’. Who knows...?
"If Povetkin had come over and tried to nut Joshua at the press conference we would have sold out immediately. There are a lot of people saying I will come in April for the Wilder fight. We will have over 80,000 in there. He has sold over 300,000 tickets for his last four fights.
"We have had to work a bit harder this time. Normally when you go on sale with an Anthony Joshua fight it just goes ‘ping’. You will always have bits and pieces with a fighter bringing tickets back. The VIP tickets - at £2,000 each - sold out in 20 minutes."
Hearn also revealed a reluctance on Joshua's part to 'promote' his fights.
"He's not the type of person that will push his own fights, which still baffles me. When we co-promote shows like we did for Okolie-Chamberlain, he was like ‘do you want me to put something out on social media?’ But he won’t do his fights. ‘I don’t like to push it, it’s a bit cringe, isn’t it?' he will tell me. He has got five million followers on social media but he doesn’t like to say ‘hey guys, this is Anthony Joshua, don’t forget to get tickets’. He would never, ever, ever do something like a video selling tickets. That is him."
Hearn, an advocate of pay-per-view events, believes, intriguingly, that it will eventually implode.
"I think pay-per-view will end in tears at some point because what will happen is that fighters will take risks on pay-per-view events that will not work. We are in a strong position because our platform is solid, proven. Josh Warrington versus Carl Frampton [rival promoter Frank Warren's likely December blockbuster], if it did 100,000 buys on PPV I’d be astonished. So how are the fighters going to make any money? Too much pay-per-view, you can’t say it is good for boxing because it is not.
"When the fighters are earning as much money as they are, you only have to look at the US market to say look how much money those fighters are making out there. It doesn’t add up unless you have a broadcaster that is willing to pump a fortune in right fees. We have. Showtime are, ESPN are. Sky aren’t.
"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 sis that? You work on an Amir Khan card for 3-4 months, sell 8,000 tickets and as a promoter you are thinking ‘can I break even?’ If you had ten events like that the business would be a complete waste of time. Where we make our money is PPV. But if we are taking only a small percentage of a fighter’s PPV earnings, that’s how the model works.
"Even fighters like Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora. I spoke to Chisora last night and told him if this happens, you are going to make an absolute fortune. And good luck to you. He deserves it. He’s had some wars."
Hearn also outlined a packed schedule to the end of this year. "September 22 Joshua, September 28, Callum Smith in the WBSS final, October 6 Chicago, October 13, Lewis Ritson, October 20, BJ Saunders versus Demetrious Andrade, October 27 is the Copper Box, the same night Danny Jacobs fights at Madison Square Garden, November 3 at the moment looks like a week off.
"November 10 touch wood could be Alexander Usyk versus Tony Bellew, November 17 will be our event in America, which could be a Vegas event, November 24 will be Monaco, then December 1, 8, 15 and 22 we will have shows. We have got the Millennium Stadium held for December 1, 8 and 15. We have the O2 Arena London for Dec 22. We are not going to do three back-to-back events at the Millennium Stadium, it will just be one. At the moment if Amir Khan fights Kell Brook, it might be a February or March event, if Khan fights Manny Pacquiao it could be in December because Pacquiao wants to fight in December. Ideally, Amir would wait until February to fight again."
The Khan-Pacquiao fight, Hearn added, could be either in Cardiff, or in Vegas.
The Las Vegas fight in November is likely to be Kal Yafai defending his world super flyweight title again Roman 'Chocolatito' Gonzalez, and the Monaco event will have at least two British fights on it as well.
Hearn is also waiting on the Deontay Wilder - Tyson Fury date and venue, expected to be Las Vegas in early December.
"If they go December 1 with Fury, we will probably go December 8 in America, whether it is Pacquiao or another one," explained Hearn. "The 15th we will go UK with a standard Saturday Fight Night, which could be Rocky Fielding against James DeGale. The 22nd would be O2 with Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora, but it is not done yet."
"These are great times," said Hearn. "I think there is a real mindset from fighters at every level to be in proper fights. Even down to Jake Ball versus Craig Richards and Isaac Chamberlain versus Luke Watkins. Some are coming off losses but I say if you can’t beat each other, you are never going to the top level. Just do it and find out."
