Eddie hears about ‘Worst night of his life’
Eddie Hearn described the worst night of his life – detailing the length of time it almost ended before it started.
The head of Matchroom has now been active at the center for about a decade, promoting numerous world title matches, hosting shows in the US and working with gold medal winners. Olympic.
But Hearn spoke in an interview with Alex Krassyuk on YouTube Box Office channel about wanting to “give up boxing” after promoting a particular match.
Hearn, who is working with K2 Promotion’s Krassyuk to promote ‘Rage on the Red Sea’ in Saudi Arabia next weekend says:
“I met Audley Harrison and we got through and won the European Championship and finished the fight against David Haye and from there I wanted to retire from boxing because it was the worst night of my life.”
K2 Promotions is the co-promoter of current unified heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk – who, after winning every title in the cruiser class became undisputed before moving to heavyweight – dethroned Anthony Joshua at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London last September.
Couple fighting in the desert on August 20 exclusive live on Sky Sports Box Officeat the Jeddah Superdome.
Hearn continued about his first game, which, ironically, also aired on Sky’s pay-per-view arm:
“I met Audley Harrison on a poker table in Las Vegas and we were playing poker and he said, ‘Oh, you’re the Matchroom! You play boxing right? ‘ I said, not really, like, little shows. ‘
“He said, ‘Look can you give me a fight? I still think I have a lot to offer? ‘”
Harrison won the Olympic gold medal in the super heavyweight category at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and won countless things on his way to a third-round defeat in November 2010 at the hands of Haye.
The Matchroom promoter continued:
“Audley is a big star in the UK, he won an Olympic gold medal so everyone knows who he is, he is 5ft 7in, he is huge and I called my dad and I said: ‘I just met Audley Harrison I was told I could promote him. ‘”
Hearn openly admitted he had no idea what he was doing at the time – and even said that his dad, Barry, warned him to avoid representing the retired man with the record. 31-7 (23 KOs) after 70- second defeat to future WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder at Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield.
“I said to Audley: ‘I’m going to put you in the Prizefighter, you’re going to win it, then I’m going to get you the European title, you’re going to win it, and then we’re going to fight David Haye to win it. win the world championship.
“He went ‘Okay’.
“Next he was in the Prizefighter and won it, he beat Michael Sprott to win the European Championship and then I was in Las Vegas negotiating with David Haye for the world heavyweight title.
“We did it in Manchester, [it] sold out instantly, pushed pay-per-view, made hundreds of thousands of purchases, and later in the night, Audley dropped no punches.
“It was the worst fight ever. People throw everything at me [as I was] I left the arena and I said to myself later that night “I’m done with boxing”. “
But what sounded like the end to his broken business venture turned out to be just the beginning.
“After that, people wouldn’t stop calling me. Boxers, managers will ask ‘Will Matchroom return to boxing? See what you did with Audley. I’ve got this guy, he’s so much better than Audley Harrison and you can do this. ‘
“We signed Darren Barker, Kell Brook and Carl Froch within three weeks of that fight.”
Barker, Brook and Froch all won IBF world titles in their respective weight classes under Hearn’s guidance, with Barker and Froch each hanging up their gloves in 2014 while Brook continued to fight until win against arch-rival Amir Khan at the AO Arena in Manchester in February.