Like Arum, Hearn Thinks Showtime Will Leave Boxing

Being the first major promoter to jump in-bed with DAZN, Eddie Hearn takes pride in the signing of Canelo Alvarez and Golden Boy to the platform, joining Bellator MMA as cornerstone content for the streaming service.

“We haven’t even launched for one month yet and now you got 32 of our shows, 10 of Golden Boy shows, You got Canelo’s next 11 fights,” Hearn told BoxingScene.com.

“It’s not just the Rocky Fielding fight. Its eleven of his next fights. You paid $85 dollars for the Golovkin rematch and now you’re just going to pay a subscription.”

With HBO leaving the space following the end of 2018, Hearn feels that getting Canelo Alvarez to sign with DAZN would not only yield Golden Boy, but a potential shift in the future of boxing broadcasting.

“Once we knew about HBO leaving,” Hearn stated. “We knew wherever Canelo went, Golden Boy also went – so it opened up with HBO getting out. Obviously, that was done with Oscar and John Skipper but ultimately for us was getting Canelo to the table to DAZN. You’re talking about 1.1 million people paying 85 dollars [for his last PPV fight]. His next fight was going to be on PPV. Now this is free.”

“I saw Bob Arum’s comments that Showtime will follow HBO out the business, I tend to agree with it.” Hearn said of Arum’s comments on the only premium cable channel that will show live boxing programming in 2019.

“It’s going to get so competitive and so fierce. HBO basically said we don’t want this anymore. Everyone’s going to have to dig deep if they want to compete. If you are a middleweight contender, you have to be on DAZN. If you want to fight Anthony Joshua, you have to be on DAZN.”

Quotes Via: Boxing Scene