Eddie Hearn is one of the most successful promoters in combat sports today, having promoted some of the biggest stars in boxing, including Canelo Alvarez, Anthony Joshua, and Gennady Golovkin.
But despite his success in promoting the squared circle, the chairman of Matchroom Sport doesn’t envision himself branching out into caged combat anytime soon.
“I’ve looked at it a few times,” Hearn recently said on The MMA Hour. “I guess there’s a lot that people — it only takes two or three talents. Imagine that you came out and you launched a new MMA company and I signed Francis Ngannou.
“It’s all down to talent. I don’t want to operate at MMA at a lower level. If I go into MMA, I’m taking on the UFC — and I don’t really want take on the UFC. They’re very good and very powerful and I’ve got enough on my plate in boxing.”
Since Floyd Mayweather Jr. and the UFC co-promoted “The Money Fight” between Mayweather and Conor McGregor, we’ve seen more boxing promoters show an interest in MMA, most notably with Oscar De La Hoya’s disastrous Golden Boy MMA venture in 2018 that saw Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz compete for a third time.
Golden Boy has not put forth another event since then, ostensibly because it’s difficult to find promotional success in a sport dominated by the UFC.
However, Hearn says that should a series of events arise wherein he was able to sign several top fighters, then perhaps he would consider branching out.
“It’s only down to talent,” Hearn said. “All of a sudden, it can happen very quickly.
“It’s what happened to me in boxing. I signed Carl Froch, Darren Barker, Kell Brook in a week, next thing I’ve got the exclusive contract with Sky (Sports) — and that could be the same with MMA. You never know. Sleep with one eye open.”