Eddie Hearn
Eddie Hearn | |
|---|---|
.png) Hearn in 2015 | |
| Born | Edward John Hearn 8 June 1979 London, England |
| Education | Brentwood School Havering Sixth Form College |
| Occupation(s) | Businessman, Sports promoter |
| Known for | Sports promotion |
| Title | Chairman of Matchroom Sport |
| Spouse | Chloe Hearn[1] |
| Children | 2[1] |
| Father | Barry Hearn |
| Website | matchroomboxing |
Edward John Hearn (born 8 June 1979) is a British sports promoter and the chairman of Matchroom Sport and Professional Darts Corporation.[2] Hearn has promoted many world champion boxers through Matchroom, including Anthony Joshua, Canelo Álvarez, Gennady Golovkin, Vasyl Lomachenko, Katie Taylor and many others.[3][4] He is the son of promoter Barry Hearn, the founder of Matchroom Sport. As of 2022, Hearn has been a senior mentor at the Garth Crooks Team of the Week Leadership Academy for Outstanding Young Men and Ladies.
Education
[edit]Hearn was a student at the private Brentwood School, Essex. He failed to get into sixth form at Brentwood School as he performed poorly on his GCSEs. Hearn played cricket and football to a high standard, and his father Barry petitioned the school to let him stay on for his sporting record, but the school refused. Hearn said, "I grew up thinking I was a hard nut and in Brentwood School I was. Anywhere else I was a pansy." He then went to Havering College of Further and Higher Education in Hornchurch, which was not selective. Barry encouraged Hearn to study by promising him £1,000 for a C or better grade in his A-level subjects, which were communications studies, physical education and business studies. Hearn achieved two Cs and one A.[5]
Early career
[edit]Matchroom Sport was founded by Eddie's father, Barry Hearn. After leaving education, Hearn started a career at a sports management company representing golfers, eventually moving on to promote online poker with Matchroom with the events being broadcast worldwide.[6] In the UK, they were broadcast by Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky Sports.
Career
[edit]In 2010, Hearn met boxer Audley Harrison at a poker game and agreed to help him rebuild his career, subsequently getting Harrison a fight with heavyweight champion David Haye for his WBA title, which began his career and establishment of Matchroom Boxing.[7]
In 2013, Hearn signed a promotional agreement with Anthony Joshua, one year after his gold medal win at the London 2012 Olympics.[8] He has promoted all of Joshua's fights since, including multiple world champion fights.[8]
In 2014, Hearn promoted Carl Froch vs. George Groves II in 2014 at Wembley Stadium with 80,000 fans in attendance.[9]
In 2015, Hearn signed an exclusive televised boxing deal with UK broadcaster Sky Sports to broadcast up to 20 shows a year. The deal was in place for six years and lasted until 2021.[10]
In 2017, Hearn promoted Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko which took place at Wembley Stadium with 90,000 fans in attendance.[11]
In May 2018, Hearn revealed boxing's first-ever $1 billion boxing deal (£750 million) as Matchroom and streaming service DAZN signed an agreement to stream shows across the United States. At the heart of the deal, Hearn and Matchroom Boxing would stage 16 shows in America, which would be streamed exclusively on DAZN in the U.S., while 16 of his UK shows will also be shown on the platform.[12]
In 2019, Hearn agreed a deal to promote a professional boxing match between YouTube personalities KSI and Logan Paul, which took place on 9 November 2019 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. This match was heavily criticised by boxing fans across the globe; they claimed KSI and Paul were not suitable to be promoted by Hearn, due to their lack of experience. Referring to their first amateur fight which Hearn had previously declined to promote, he described it as "a really good fight and I told myself I'm doing the rematch."[13]
In the same year, Hearn came under criticism for staging Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II in Saudi Arabia, due to the country's poor human rights record. He defended the decision by stating that Saudi Arabia wanted to improve its image and that his job "is to provide the best opportunities for our fighters."[14]
In 2019, Hearn launched a BBC Radio 5 Live podcast called 'No Passion, No Point' interviewing a number of sports professionals including Andrew Flintoff, Wayne Rooney and Tyson Fury.[15]
In April 2021, Hearn was appointed Chairman of the Matchroom Group after Hearn's father, Barry Hearn, stepped aside from the role of chairman to become president of the group in an advisory role.[2]
On 8 May 2021, Hearn promoted Canelo Álvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders in front of 73,126 fans at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, which broke the all-time attendance record for an indoor boxing event in the United States.[16] Matchroom subsequently agreed a further two-fight promotional deal with Canelo Álvarez in a deal worth $85 million.[17] Later that same month, Hearn became involved in a war of words with rival promoters Bob Arum of Top Rank, and Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions, over the failure of a deal coming to fruition for a proposed Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua fight, accusing them of making "absolutely zero attempt to try and save the Anthony Joshua fight".[18][19]
On 3 June 2021, Hearn announced that he had signed a five-year deal that meant he would be taking his entire stable of Matchroom fighters to streaming service DAZN, which ended Matchroom's previous partnership with Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland. As part of the deal, all Matchroom events will be shown exclusively on DAZN worldwide, and "at least 16 Matchroom UK fights [will be] annually available exclusively to DAZN subscribers in the UK and Ireland for the first time, from July 2021 onwards".[20]
In September 2021, Hearn and Anthony Joshua announced a new promotional deal to last until the end of the boxer's career.[21]
In April 2022, Hearn promoted the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano fight at Madison Square Garden in New York City.[17]
In 2024, Hearn participated in the Queensberry vs. Matchroom 5v5 event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a distinctive boxing competition against fellow promoter Frank Warren. Each promoter selected five fighters, with the scoring system awarding two points for a knockout, one point for a decision win, and double points for victories by team captains. Despite Hearn's strategic efforts, his team was decisively defeated, losing all matches and ending with a humiliating 10-0 loss against Warren's team.[22][23][24]
Personal life
[edit]Hearn lives near Billericay in Essex with his wife Chloe and their two daughters.[25] He generally has a good relationship with his fighters, and is good friends with former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew whose career he helped turn around.[26] In 2020, then unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, whom Hearn has promoted since Joshua's professional debut in 2013, said that he and Eddie "will always have a great friendship."[27]
After Hearn promoted a boxing event in Fresno, California in 2021, the Mayor of Fresno, Jerry Dyer, declared 16 October to be celebrated as "Matchroom Boxing and Eddie Hearn Day".[28]
Bibliography
[edit]- Relentless: 12 Rounds to Success (2020) ISBN 978-1529312195
References
[edit]- ^ a b Scott, Interview by Danny (21 July 2019). "A Life in the Day: Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn".
- ^ a b "Barry Hearn OBE regrettably stepped aside as Eddie Hearn became Matchroom Sport Group Chairman". Matchroom Boxing. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^ Hamilton, Matt. "List of Matchroom Boxers". Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
- ^ "Best Boxers in the World - Matchroom Boxing Fighters". Matchroom Boxing. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ Davies, Gareth A. (20 April 2019). "Eddie Hearn interview: 'I grew up thinking I was a hard nut, but I was a pansy'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ "Eddie Hearn - Interview with Poker TV Producer Eddie Hearn". uk.pokernews.com.
- ^ Ingle, Sean (28 May 2014). "Eddie Hearn's road to Froch v Groves II started with Audley Harrison | Sean Ingle". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ a b Lucas, Katherine (26 September 2021). "What Joshua's new 'career-long' deal with Hearn means for Sky Sports and DAZN". inews.co.uk. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "George Groves' reaction when the Wembley fight was brought up in front of Froch". GiveMeSport. 21 April 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ "Sky Sports and Matchroom extend their exclusive boxing deal to 2021". Sky Sports.
- ^ Wheeler, Paul (25 April 2017). "Eddie Hearn: Wladimir Klitschko is a huge gamble for Anthony Joshua - Boxing News". www.boxingnewsonline.net. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ "Eddie Hearn reveals boxing's first ever $1bn deal with streaming giant". The Independent. 11 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ "What is Eddie Hearn's role in KSI vs Logan Paul? The promoter at the heart of YouTube's boxing blockbuster". talkSPORT. 9 November 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ Ingle, Sean (3 December 2019). "Eddie Hearn defends Saudi Arabia venue for Anthony Joshua title fight". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ "BBC Radio 5 Live - Eddie Hearn: No Passion, No Point - Downloads". BBC. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Canelo-Saunders breaks US indoor boxing attendance record - SportsPro Media". www.sportspromedia.com. 10 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^ a b Nimmo, Jamie (19 April 2024). "How Barry and Eddie Hearn built Matchroom into an £800m business thanks to boxing's Anthony Joshua and Canelo Alvarez". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Eddie Hearn accuses Tyson Fury of making 'zero effort' to resurrect Anthony Joshua fight". The Independent. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ "Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury collapse left Saudi Arabia 'devastated' says Eddie Hearn | DAZN News US". DAZN. 25 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ "DAZN agrees landmark worldwide Matchroom Boxing deal | DAZN News Global". DAZN. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
- ^ Dalleres, Frank (21 September 2021). "Anthony Joshua KOs Eddie Hearn split talk with Matchroom deal for life". CityAM. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Queensberry vs. Matchroom 5v5: How does the scoring system work? Who are the team captains?".
- ^ "Queensberry sweeps 5v5 after Zhilei Zhang knocks out Deontay Wilder".
- ^ "Queensberry vs Matchroom 5v5: Results, reaction and analysis as Deontay Wilder suffers defeat".
- ^ Scott, Interview by Danny (21 July 2019). "A Life in the Day: boxing promoter Eddie Hearn". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ "Eddie Hearn: Tony Bellew One Of Best Men You'll Ever Meet". BoxingScene.com. 12 November 2018.
- ^ ""It'd Be Silly" - Anthony Joshua Dismisses Question Regarding Eddie Hearn". EssentiallySports. 4 April 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
- ^ Baker, Albert (15 October 2021). "Marc Castro Makes His Fresno Boxing Debut on Card Topped by Mikey Garcia". GV Wire. Archived from the original on 15 October 2021. Retrieved 29 October 2021.
External links
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