Hearn talks Boxing vs. MMA in GQ interview

Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn fields questions from GQ magazine on a variety of subjects, including Mayweather-McGregor, a Joshua-Klitschko rematch, and an offer he’s made for a Wilder-Whyte fight.

Starting with the biggest noise-maker in the sport right now, Hearn is asked for his opinion on Mayweather-McGregor which leads to an interesting point about the respective sports...

“Well, with my promotor’s hat on it I can tell you it is a huge event, it will create a huge revenue and it is going to break box office records. I am a huge Conor McGregor fan, I think he is a legend of MMA and I think he is one of the world’s greatest self-promoters...And Floyd Mayweather is the boxing equivalent. So it will make them both an awful lot of money. But does McGregor have a chance? Absolutely not...

“The thing I do find interesting about this whole event, though, is that recently a lot of people have said boxing is dead and MMA is the future. But here you have the biggest name in MMA resorting to boxing, for not just his biggest pay day, but a payday that he could never achieve through his own sport. I think that is good for boxing.”

This is an interesting point to make because MMA is much, much more popular (in the U.S. at least) than boxing. Yet boxers can often earn much more money that their MMA counterparts because of how the respective businesses are structured. You can be sure that if McGregor could earn the same kind of fortune in a UFC fight as he could against Mayweather, this fight probably wouldn’t be happening.

Moving along, Hearn was also asked about the status of Joshua-Klitschko II. Hearn says that he’s still working on the fight and is probably about two weeks away from making a final pitch to Klitschko’s team about the opportunities that exist for a rematch. Ultimately the decision will be up to Klitschko, but Hearn says he’s confident the rematch will happen.

And another notable tidbit from his interview us that Hearn has acknowledged that he is attempting to put together a heavyweight title fight between WBC champion Deontay Wilder and his fighter, Dillian Whyte. Hearn says he’s made three ‘really good offers’ to Wilder’s team for what he calls a ‘big, big deal’ but says that Wilder is still trying to sort out his mandatory title defense obligation to Bermane Stiverne. Hearn says Wilder-Whyte would be a great way for Wilder to build his name in the UK as a precursor to a Joshua-Wilder showdown.

Other than that, if you’re interested in reading about Hearn discuss luxury cars and wearing shorts to the office, check out the full GQ interview at the link above.