LORDS OF THE RING

With Fury vs Usyk set to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion, Alex Pattle speaks to Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren and other top promoters about the art of matchmaking

-  Alex Pattle

What is the main misconception among boxing fans, when they think about how fights are made? It is not a rhetorical question. Rather, it is one put to Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren, Ben Shalom and Frank Smith by The Independent, because for years, the predominant issue plaguing this form of pugilism has been a lack of big fights.

There are, of course, other issues, but fans’ main focus has always been on seeing the best fighters face their contemporaries, and that has frankly not happened enough in recent times. That dynamic is admittedly changing, with an injection of Saudi money taking rapid effect in the bloodstream of boxing, but even so, there are a few things that the sport’s most influential promoters would like to make clear.

So, what is the main misconception among boxing fans, when they think about how fights are made?

“That you just ring a fighter and go, ‘This is the date, this is your money, see you there,’” laughs Frank Smith, CEO of Matchroom Boxing. “I think fans don’t really understand the politics behind it, the arguments. ‘Well, I deserve this much if that person is getting that.’”

Smith, 31, is a powerful partner of Hearn – chair of Matchroom Sport, son of Barry Hearn – as they work on events involving Anthony Joshua, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and more of boxing’s top stars. The Essex duo are aligned on many topics, particularly fighter negotiations. While boxing is an “ego-driven sport”, as Smith says, the “numbers don’t lie”, according to Hearn.