Eddie Hearn Commends The ‘Resilience’ of Al Haymon After Offering Big Money To PBC Fighters

Hearn was a guest on All the Smoke Boxing, where he voiced his admiration for Haymon and PBC.

“How Haymon kept hold of some of those fighters when I was offering the money I was offering was admirable,” he said. “Talk about 3 or 4 times what they were making.”

The Matchroom boss was persistently and openly trying to sign PBC fighters when he launched his DAZN-backed expansion in the United States. Moreover, it was reported that DAZN had given him a $1 million budget to stage fights and sign fighters. Fondly calling it “poaching season”, he began offering major financial perks to fighters like Adrien Broner, Errol Spence Jr, and the Charlo brothers, to name a few.

Hearn admitted that he had underestimated the “resilience” of other promoters, especially Haymon. He mentioned that while a few fighters were ready to go, they wanted to inform Haymon before doing so, a fact which did not sit right with Hearn.

In fact, he even thought that he had compelled both the Charlo brothers to cross to the other side. However, he was unable to finalize a deal, owing to their loyalty to Haymon.

“We had offers out for a lot of fighters. And we were close with a lot of fighters. But Al did well during that time,” he said.

While Hearn was finally able to sign a few fighters like Jessie Vargas and Daniel Jacobs, the marquee PBC stars stayed back with the promotion.

“We Are Actively Working Together With PBC”

Following the initial hiccups with the promotion, Hearn seems to have realized that working with PBC is the best way forward. Talking to iFL TV’s Colm McGuigan, he revealed that he was working on making major fights happen with PBC and other promotions.

“We are actively working together with PBC to make great fights,” he said. “My relationship with Golden Boy, my relationship with PBC, is good and strong. The communication lines are open. It’s the same with Queensberry. There’s never been a better time to make fights. There’s never been a better time for boxing promoters to come together and make the sport great again.”