Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn is never far from the eye of the storm. Recent weeks have seen him at the centre of two of boxing’s biggest stories. Hearn has had vital roles to play in both the Conor Benn clomifene scandal and the collapse of the Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua fight. These were just two of the items on the agenda when The Sportsman spoke to Eddie for the Lightweight Boxing Show.
We spoke to Hearn ahead of Katie Taylor’s highly-anticipated return to the ring this Saturday against Karen Elizabeth Carabajal. The promoter talked to us about Taylor’s present and future, what’s next for Anthony Joshua, Jake Paul and lots more in a wide-ranging chat.
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This is the first time we’ll see Katie Taylor in a ring since her instant classic with Amanda Serrano in New York. How excited are you to see Taylor back?
It’s been a rough few weeks for boxing, so I believe that Katie is the perfect remedy for that. She’s a shining light for the sport and that night at Madison Square Garden was one of the greatest nights that the sport has ever seen. There were people who were in the arena saying that it was their greatest night watching the sport.
She’s got a tough fight against Karen Carabajal as she’s mandatory challenger and she’s 19-0. People assume that Katie Taylor will breeze through these sorts of challenges, but I believe it’ll be a really good fight and she’s as motivated as ever to continue to dominate the sport.
What are your thoughts on the challenger, the unbeaten Karen Elizabeth Carabajal?
The reason we gravitated towards this fight was because of the mandatory challenger situation. Owning all these belts means that you need to box off all these mandatory challengers and I’m glad that we’ve got a proper challenge, because sometimes you have to fight an opponent that’s not your choice and you get blamed if the fight doesn’t live up to the hype. This fight with Carabajal is a good example of how somebody has earnt a shot at the title as she’s gone through those 19 victories and she deserves a shot at the title.
“The difficulty for Katie is that a lot of these challengers will get in a position to fight her and really raise their game. The danger for Katie is that she may not raise her game because people are expecting her to win. Carabajal is thinking “Wow, one win and I’ve beaten a legend of the sport and I'm the undisputed champion”. She’s going to be very hungry and it’s going to be a tricky fight.
What about the undercard? What are you most looking forward to?
My favourite fight on the card, without doubt, is Kiko Martínez and Jordan Gill. This is a fight that really should headline. Kiko Martínez is that little bee that won’t go away. Even when people were saying that he’s done, he fought Kid Galahad and had his ears boxed off, before he came back in the sixth round and knocked him clean out and became world champion. He then came back and had a brilliant fight with Josh Warrington. Warrington won the fight, but in the process he had his jaw busted. Kiko Martínez is a horrible fighter to face and Jordan Gill will outbox Kiko in the early stages of the fight, but Kiko will not stop.
Jordan Gill’s last fight against Karim Guerfi, when he had two burst eardrums and had to sit against the ropes because he couldn't stand up, he landed that one punch KO and it was one of the greatest victories I’ve ever seen. This fight will be a tremendous fight.
The Sportsman spoke with Chantelle Cameron recently and she expressed interest in a fight with Taylor. The Amanda Serrano rematch is another option. What are your plans for Katie after the Carabajal fight?
Chantelle Cameron has got a huge fight coming up against Jessica McCaskill in Abu Dhabi for the undisputed super lightweight championship. If she wins that, then with Chantelle being undisputed at 140 pounds and Katie being undisputed at 135 pounds, that could be a huge fight.
The fight that Katie and all of us have all our eyes on is the Amanda Serrano rematch. Even though Katie won the first fight, it was a close fight and one of the best fights that anybody has ever seen. We want to do that again at Croke Park either next spring or summer. If Katie can get past Carabajal on Saturday, then hopefully we will open talks for the rematch with team Serrano and get that made.
That Abu Dhabi show will be headlined by Dmitry Bivol’s WBA light heavyweight title defence against Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez. Can you talk us through the card?
It’s one of the best cards we’ve ever put together, top to bottom. Dmitry Bivol versus Gilberto Ramírez for the WBA light heavyweight title is one of the best fights for boxing. Bivol is now the pound for pound star after beating Canelo Álvarez and Zurdo is now unbeaten in 44 fights and is a former super middleweight champion as well.
Co-main eventing that fight is the undisputed super lightweight (title) fight between Chantelle Cameron and Jessica McCaskill. Unbelievable fight. Zelfa Barrett from Manchester has his chance to become world champion against Shavkat Rakhimov. If you have the chance to be there live or tune in on DAZN, it’s going to be a fantastic night of boxing.
If Bivol wins, is a rematch with ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in your thoughts?
It’s certainly a fight that Canelo Álvarez wants as he wants to avenge that defeat. For Bivol it’s an interesting fight, a big money fight, but he has his eye on becoming undisputed champion across the light heavyweight division. Canelo will be watching closely next week to see if Bivol can win but I’m sure he will want Zurdo to win as he’s Mexican. If Dimtry Bivol is victorious then it’ll certainly open talks between Canelo and Bivol for Cinco de Mayo next year.
What do you make of Tyson Fury taking a third fight with Derek Chisora?
It’s difficult because Derek is my mate, but I’ve obviously seen the response from the public and how they’re disappointed with the fight. The fact that Tyson has beaten Derek twice already makes the fight a hard sell. Tyson Fury was always going to pick an ‘easy’ fight for December 3rd ultimately and we thought that was going to be Manuel Charr, but as it was met with such disdain from social media, they went with Derek Chisora instead.
If Tyson hadn’t beaten Derek twice already, then two Brits going head-to-head is a pick we would have understood. The reason people are upset with this fight is because it’s an unwanted trilogy.
Do you expect that WBC heavyweight title showdown to sell-out the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?
They’ve said they’ve sold 50,000 tickets already, so I believe the fight will sell out the stadium. Tyson Fury is a big name and people know who Derek Chisora is. It’s a bit of a weird one, December 3rd without a roof but us Brits are a bit crazy and think it’s funny, so we will turn up anyway. They’ll need a strong undercard because I don’t think it’s going to smash pay-per-view records, but it could have been a lot worse. If Tyson would have fought Manuel Charr, then maybe nobody would have shown up.
Do you think it was always Fury’s intention to fight Chisora, or was he serious about the Anthony Joshua negotiations in your view?
I’m sure that there’s blame on every side for why that fight didn’t speedily go through. If you have a brain in your head then understand this, we were given a deadline of a day where the fight had to be signed as Tyson Fury wanted to move forward and know who he was fighting on December 3rd. Four weeks later he signed a contract for a fight with Derek Chisora, so the whole way through that process he was negotiating with Derek Chisora.
Why were we put on a deadline when Derek Chisora had three or four weeks more time to make his decision? That’s all you need to know.
With Fury tied up, what’s Joshua’s next move?
I think it’s more realistic that he will be fighting early on next year. Cristobal Arreola has said that he’s negotiating a fight with AJ but we’ve not had one conversation with him. I have no idea where that’s coming from.
I think the fight is Dillian Whyte against Anthony Joshua. Dillian has his own tough fight on November 26th with Jermaine Franklin, but I don’t believe that AJ wants an easy fight. He realises that every camp is hard and that every fight’s hard. He’d rather be in the biggest fight available and obviously we work with both guys, so it’s a fight that may get made for February or March 2023. We will see if Dillian Whyte can beat Jermaine Franklin and then see if that fight can be next for AJ.
What’s the latest on the Conor Benn situation after the collapse of the Chris Eubank Jr fight?
There’s a legal process unfolding at the moment with hearings and so on, but Conor Benn wants to get in front of the media. It’s difficult for us because I don’t mind talking about the process that unfolded but I can’t talk about stuff that can disrupt his legal hearing.
From our point of view, we want his case to be heard because whether he’s found guilty or not guilty, whether there’s no ban, a six month ban, a one year ban or two year ban, until that unfolds, we can’t move on. That’s all taking place now behind the scenes and he’s obviously in a very big fight for his own career and you’ll hear from him this week as he wants to get in front of the media because he’s not been able to say anything either.
Jake Paul faces his toughest challenge to date this weekend when he takes on Anderson Silva. How do you think he’ll get on?
Anderson Silva is 48 years old now, but he’s an MMA legend. He’s a decent striker as well, and obviously has that victory over a very faded Julio César Chávez Jr. I just expect Jake to be a bit too fresh for him.
Watching Jake, he’s definitely improving as a fighter. You can see that. He’s in good shape and he’s a strong young man, but he’s probably not going to get as much credit as he deserves if he wins because the argument that he hasn’t beaten a boxer will remain. Silva is definitely his toughest challenge so far and if he wins he should get the appropriate credit.
What level do you see Paul competing at if he does make the switch to facing pro boxers?
I don’t think he’s terrible but he’s certainly not going to be competing at world level. Again, we shouldn’t really knock him because many fighters are trying to compete at world level but also won’t make that grade as well, and that’s no disgrace because it’s a very difficult thing to do. He is improving and he’s given his time to the sport. Good luck to him.
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