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Matchroom Boxing chief Eddie Hearn has spoken out about why he’s been putting on big fights in Saudi Arabia after facing backlash for taking big events away from Britain and America. Saudi has seen an influx of big-name fights in recent years due to the immense money pumped into sport, which some have claimed is the country trying to hide human rights issues.
Fans of boxing are particularly upset because they think all the best fights and events are moving away from the US and UK, including the likes of Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz Jr 2, Tyson Fury vs Francis Ngannou, Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk and Joshua vs Ngannou. But Hearn is adamant he and Matchroom are doing the right thing.
Our plan, along with DAZN, is global expansion. So if there is money coming into the sport from a new region we need to embrace that. If that money is enabling us to see the fights that keep boxing great, even better. But we must still focus on other markets and particularly our domestic markets.
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“Fights like [Artur] Beterbiev-[Dmitrii] Bivol that can get made instantly I don’t think that fights would have got made without Saudi Arabia. Tyson] Fury-[Oleksandr] Usyk wouldn’t have been made without Saudi Arabia, so we have to embrace it, because you can’t deny the fighters the opportunity and seeing the growth there first hand, it’s quite amazing, as a country.”
Another big fight set to take place in Saudi Arabia is Joshua taking on Ngannou on March 8, in the city of Riyadh. Joshua won his last three fights and he now faces a bigger challenge in Ngannou, who lost his debut fight against Fury, a decision many did not agree with.
