Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is currently plotting his assault on the American boxing landscape following his recent $1 billion streaming deal landed for the sport in the US.
The deal is over an eight year period and will give Hearn similar firepower to what Al Haymon had for the Premier Boxing Champions start-up a few years back.
In terms of plenty of cash to sign top tier fighters to his stable.
But that’s the challenge Hearn now finds himself in.
It’s all well and good having all that money and dates but he needs to get those fighters signed up now as soon as possible.
Making sure he doesn’t infringe on any current promotional contracts they may already have, too, in a new market where State to State legislation differs from British sports law that Eddie would normally be used to.
Boxing manager Al Haymon boasts a huge stable of fighters under his Haymon Boxing Management company and also through his Premier Boxing Champions television series.
One fan asked promoter Eddie Hearn today how he intends to pry away some of those fighters:
Have you figured out how you’re going to prize Haymon’s acolytes from Showtime yet? Surely you’re going to need at least some of that stable to make this a success.
— ST (@s2mey) May 23, 2018
Hearn was less than subtle in his reply, admitting he’ll just pay them more money than Haymon with a laughing emoji:
By paying more money ?
— Eddie Hearn (@EddieHearn) May 23, 2018
Up until now Hearn has had no problem ruffling the feathers of figures in US boxing like Richard Schaefer, Lou DiBella and Shelly Finkel.
It appears Al Haymon is next on Eddie Hearn’s list.