Hall of Fame boxing promoter Bob Arum recently was reported to have said that heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua should finish up his contract with current promoter Eddie Hearn and join him instead.
It was reported that Arum feels Joshua has isolated himself on streaming platform DAZN that does not have as many subscribers as ESPN (Arum’s network) nor has a television platform like the sports network that reaches an incredible amount of homes in the US.
Arum recently signed Joshua rival Tyson Fury as a co-promoter of the lineal heavyweight champion for his bouts in the US on ESPN and no doubt has his eyes set on making a Fury vs Joshua super fight.
Fellow Hall of Fame promoter and father of Eddie Hearn, Barry Hearn was quick to hit back at Arum after learning of Arum’s verbal attack on his son.
Speaking to Kugan Cassius of IFL TV Eddie Hearn revealed the following text message that Hearn senior sent him after the comments from Arum:
“Old man (Arum) just trying to be relevant. Bless him. He is older than me. Reading between the lines I think Arum is under huge pressure from ESPN.”
ESPN recently added UFC fights to their new streaming app which has bolstered their offering on their app hugely and it is thought that Arum is under massive pressure with his boxing content as a consequence.
Eddie Hearn added that his father’s text went on to say:
“He is so out of touch (with reality) it is untrue. He thinks we sell our tickets out of the UK? Does he know we have an operation in New York? A much bigger operation than his at Top Rank (in Las Vegas)?
Eddie Hearn enthused:
“I was like — that’s right Bazzer! F*** you Arum!”
Currently Fury is scheduled to fight June 15th in Las Vegas and Joshua is next out on June 1st in New York.
On the face of it, out of the big three heavyweights (including Deontay Wilder) it only appears that Fury is tied to a network in the US at the moment.
Both Joshua and Wilder fight on DAZN and Showtime on fight by fight deals it is thought.
So don’t write off one of these big fights happening by the end of the year just yet.
