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Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn said Matchroom was working more closely with Queensberry on off-season Riyadh events in the UK and elsewhere.Getty Images
According to Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn, one of the underappreciated side effects of Riyadh Season’s increasing influence in boxing is that promoters are also collaborating more frequently on events that do not involve the Saudi Arabian brand. Matchroom has planted a flag in the United States, becoming a business partner with the Saudi government’s Riyadh Season brand, which began staging numerous high-profile fights in the kingdom and elsewhere last year. Hearn was in Riyadh this month for the fight between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol for the title of undisputed light heavyweight champion, as Bivol is represented by Matchroom. The Saudi investment in the sport has encouraged former rival organizers to become partners. For example, Matchroom works more frequently with Queensberry Promotions on out-of-Riyadh events in the UK and elsewhere. While it is unclear how much money Saudi Arabia has poured into combat sports in recent years, it appears to be in the significantly low to mid-nine figures overall, including a $100 million investment in the PFL and tens of millions Dollars paid to boxers for participating in their events. “If you look at Matchroom and Queensberry, there is obviously more than a decade or decades of fierce rivalry in which we have not done business,” Hearn said. “Now we are working together on the Riyadh season, but actually we are fighting outside the Riyadh season. And with DAZN and TNT – the two examples of our respective broadcasters – now used to sharing a broadcast, it is much easier to continue this relationship for big fights outside of the Riyadh season.”
BETTER FIGHTS: Most promoters have signed up to work with Riyadh Season, including Golden Boy Promotions, Top Rank Promotions and Boxxer, as well as Matchroom and Queensberry. Up to this point, Premier Boxing Champions has been a notable holdout, as has Canelo Alvarez, who is affiliated with PBC but has worked with several promotional companies in recent years, including Matchroom. Before the Saudi investment, the sport struggled to organize the best matches, often due to disagreements between organizers, their broadcast partners or the athletes. With fighters now routinely receiving eight-figure salaries in the Riyadh Season, and reports that former heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury’s purse may have exceeded nine figures for a fight earlier this year, they are less likely to turn down opportunities, even if they do take the risk of suffering defeat. Hearn said of the impact of the Riyadh Season on boxing: “It’s been incredible because it helps everyone because the reality is the bigger the fights are, the more interest there is in boxing because the product is so good and when “The product is so good that it will spread throughout the boxing ecosystem.”
Green with envy? Asked if he had any concerns about a group becoming as powerful in the sport as the Saudis, Hearn said: “Not really because there’s nothing you can do about it anyway. So they will do what they want and what works for them. Right now it benefits our company, our fighters, the fans, the broadcasters – I can’t find anything negative about this movement yet. They need us, they need me, they need other talent, other sponsors and right now I think everyone is enjoying the experience. I’m definitely enjoying the sport more than I have in many, many years.”
