Eddie Hearn claims he is one bad interview away from falling out with rival boxing promoter Frank Warren. On Saturday, the two rivals went head to head in an unprecedented five-on-five tournament, with Warren’s Queensbury side beating Hearn’s Matchroom in a 10-0 whitewash.
Each competitor selected five fighters to go head-to-head at the Kingdom Arena in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, to determine who had the better lineup, and while Hearn’s choice was unacceptable, he described it as “probably the best event I’ve ever I participated”. done”.
I am talking with iFL Television on Wednesday, Hearn, 44, said Warren, 72, was magnanimous in his victory, but admitted tensions between the pair could escalate at some point, considering they only recently started talking even though they have been in the same industry for decades .
“Was the scoring system even crucial? It was all about the fans and boxing. I don’t think it really matters who wins,” Hearn said. “Frank won with extraordinary humility. We’re doing really well now, but you’re always on edge.
“Someone might say something in the middle of an interview, like there hasn’t been a single interview in the last six months where me or Frank have gone at each other or anything that we’ve done. But it probably only takes one conversation.”
The event featured five fights between boxers from Queensbury and Matchroom. A knockout win was worth two points, a points win was worth one point, and no points were awarded for ties. Team captains also had the opportunity to score double points.
In the main event, Queensbury’s Zhilei Zhang scored a shock knockout victory over Matchroom’s Deontay Wilder, who was miles away from his best.
Elsewhere, Daniel Dubois stopped Filip Hrgovic, Dmitry Bivol stopped Malik Zinad by TKO, Queensbury captain Hamzah Sheeraz stopped Austin Williams and Nick Ball defeated Ray Ford by split decision, earning five wins and 10 points for Warren’s team.
“It was drumming,” Hearn admitted. “The people in Queensbury really give it to us. Our entire team was on a later flight on Sunday and apparently they were stuck for the entire flight.
“I flew home with Frank. He was definitely bragging, don’t worry about it. But it wasn’t the kind of moment where you thought, wait, I thought we were kind of becoming friends.”