Eddie Hearn Opens Up On The Boxing Match That Lost Him £1,000,000, “I Was In Love With Him As A Fighter”
Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing has been one of the most successful boxing promoters in the last few years, but sometimes even they get it very wrong.
The company’s ‘Golden Goose’, Anthony Joshua, lost for the first time on his US debut in June 2019.
It was one of the biggest upsets of all time and a huge blow for Matchroom/Hearn.
“After Anthony Joshua lost to Ruiz”, Hearn told The Overlap, “It was like ‘Matchroom are on the ropes’, we really wanted to bounce back with something.”
Bringing Lomachenko To The UK Lost Eddie Hearn £1m
And Hearn decided to bring P4P star Vasyl Lomachenko to the UK, a hardcore fight fans’ favourite fighter.
“There was a fight between Vasily Lomachenko who was like the ‘God of boxing’ at this stage and Luke Campbell.”
However, the fight fans’ love of Lomachenko didn’t transcend to the more general sports fans who are required to sell major PPV events and Hearn was left with a big hole in his pocket.
“I just spent too much money on the fight. I wanted to bring Lomachenko to London, I was a bit in love with him as a fighter but not really understanding his actual commercial value to the mass audience which was quite limited.”
“It did very well, we sold out the O2 but the PPV didn’t hit the numbers and we’re left with a big hole. (What did you lose?) £1m and my old man’s never let me forget about it.”
The British promoter lost a million pounds on Lomachenko-Campbell, which he claims is the most he’s ever lost in a fight.
Also READ: Eddie Hearn Reveals HEATED Katie Taylor Confrontation In Boston, “Do You Think That’s Fair?”
Image (left) Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Image (Right) Credit: iFL TV/YouTube