In this video interview captured by our friends at Fight Hub TV, Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn talks about the current state of DAZN and why big names will continue to head there in order to get the most money possible. Check it out...
Hearn on potential fights between Canelo Alvarez, Demetrius Andrade, and Daniel Jacobs now that Canelo signed with DAZN:
“They’re natural fights that will happen because we’re all on the same ship. I think the Danny Jacobs fight is the favorite for May, to be honest with you, if he can win here next Saturday. I think that Andrade has got that style that not everyone’s jumping up to fight, ‘cause he’s gonna be very tough to beat. But money talks and I’d like to see Andrade have one more fight in February or March and then go into unifications because he’s been so inactive. But he has to win on Saturday.
“You know, he’s been training 10 months for a slick southpaw, now he has to fight this unknown puncher from Namibia. So he just gotta get over the line on Saturday.”
On Jermall Charlo needing to come to DAZN to get the big middleweight fights:
“Yeah, he must because Showtime can’t pay him the money that we’re paying. So, Andrade don’t wanna go anywhere. You know, Jacobs wants the most money possible. And we’re willing to pay Charlo well over the top of anything he’s ever earned.”
On if there’s been any negotiations with Charlo:
“Lots of chatter. I mean I spoke to him just a couple of days ago, just messaging. But it’s just like — you have to understand that if you’re a fighter, all the advisors are telling you at the moment is ‘DAZN is not gonna work.’ Like ‘you’ll never get a big name fighter on DAZN.’ And then [Anthony] Joshua goes on DAZN and everyone goes ‘Yeah, well he’s British.’
“Now Canelo goes on DAZN in 11 fights. They’ll probably go ‘Yeah, but he’s Mexican.’ It’s like at what point do you say this is for real?! You know, and it’s not even a month deep...All the arguments, ‘will they get the big names?’ Yes! They’ve got ‘em now, and they’ve got world champions and they’ve got other guys. ‘Will they get the subscribers?’ Yes! We’ve been getting them and now we get Canelo. If Canelo can do 1.1M buys at $85.99, how many subscribers can he bring free of charge? Yeah?! He’s gonna bring over a million subscribers in his December fight.
“So then he’s gonna fight Jacobs, then he’s gonna fight Golovkin, and you’re not even gonna have to pay pay-per-view for it! Then Joshua is gonna fight Wilder and it’s gonna be part of your monthly subscription!”
On if he’s spoken to Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler about signing with DAZN:
“Yeah, I’ve spoken to Tom Loeffler, he has to [bring Golovkin to DAZN], he has to! I mean the carrot will be more — probably from Golden Boy saying ‘come with us and we’ll give you the Canelo fight.’ We can’t do that, we can’t give that carrot.
“But does he wanna go with Golden Boy or does he wanna come with us? Either, but he has to be on DAZN. Otherwise he ain’t getting a Canelo fight! So this is what you’re gonna see now. You’re gonna see a natural progression of fighters knowing that they have to be with DAZN to get certain fights.”