Eddie Hearn defends Saudi Arabia venue for Anthony Joshua title fight
Eddie Hearn claims that the world’s top boxers all want to follow Anthony Joshua by fighting in Saudi Arabia – and has predicted it will overtake Las Vegas as the world’s premier venue for megafights.
Hearn told the Guardian that Manny Pacquiao and Canelo Álaverez would be in Riyadh for Joshua’s heavyweight title rematch on Saturday and that Floyd Mayweather would most likely be joining them.
“Every boxer and every manager wants to fight here,” Hearn said. “Pacquiao and Canelo are coming. The talk is Mayweather is too. They want a piece of the action. The plan is to make Saudi Arabia the home of mega boxing. All due respect to Las Vegas, but this place has the ability to bring any fight they want here. We had a great meeting with them last night. They can’t believe they got this and it is nearly here, and are saying: ‘What’s next?’
“I’ve said to them it has to be the biggest fights out there,” added Hearn. “It’s Joshua against [Deontay] Wilder.
And it’s not Errol Spence making a title defence, but Errol Spence against Terence Crawford. I am working now with these guys. And the amount of approaches they have had from people in the sport is incredible.”
Hearn also insisted that criticism of Joshua and Matchroom for holding the highly anticipated WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight title rematch in Diriyah, on the outskirts of the capital, Riyadh, was unfair given the number of western brands already in the country.
“I was driving up and down the road last night thinking of all the criticism
I’ve been getting. And I passed Gucci, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Versace and Ralph Lauren,” he said. “And although it is easy for us to also say Formula E, the tennis Super Cup, and the PGA Tour is here too, I also believe that no one has the right to tell a fighter how and where they can earn their money.
“Our job is to provide opportunities to the fighters. If I put a proposal in front of Joshua and he said to me he was going to Saudi Arabia, and I advised him against, he would say: ‘See ya.’”
Amnesty International has been among those to warn that the Saudi authorities are using the fight to sportswash its image, pointing out in a recent statement that: “Despite the hype over supposed reforms the country was in the midst of a sweeping human-rights crackdown.” It also says that anyone critical of the regime is usually exiled, arrested or threatened, and there is no semblance of free speech or the right to protest.
However Hearn insisted that the country was clearly modernising for the better. “The Saudis want to show they
are changing. And they want a more positive image worldwide by bringing in events. But isn’t that what they should be doing? They have got to change, and they are changing. But the great news is that boxing is going to be responsible for those changes – and that shows you the power of sport. There will be loads of women at the fight on Saturday.
“The sports washing thing is something over my head,” he added.
“I can only tell you about my experiences which have been conversations, which have not just been about one mega fight – but about an investment in the sport at grassroots level, in the schools, even talking about doing stuff in prisons. They want to use the sport to bring positivity to the region.”
Hearn also forecast a spectacular event on Saturday night, adding: “I knew this would come in for stick but I am just so pleased I believed in it, and went with it, because on Saturday you will just be thinking: this is unbelievable. “You are not going to get 20,000 people in the O2, seven pints deep, linking arms to Sweet Caroline. But you are still are going to get a great experience and excited fan base.”