This article was originally published in the August 13 issue of Boxing News magazine
How hard is it to organise a big fight between fighters from the camps of rival promoters?
@DaveJBrooks84, Twitter
Invariably they will happen and over the years they have happened. One that didnโt happen, that I wasnโt happy about, was Joe Calzaghe against Carl Froch. That was down to Froch at the time, who was a free agent, and basically didnโt want to fight Joe. Most of the time the business calls for them to happen, whether itโs a purse bid situation or someone has a title and someone becomes mandatory, which is why I think governing bodies are so important because that ensures that the champion will defend his title.
Do you think you will work withย Eddie Hearn in the future?
Paul Turner, Facebook
When you say work with him, Iโm not going to work with him. Many years ago I worked with his father [Barry Hearn]. Iโve had fighters [contracted to Queensberry] work on his [Matchroom] shows and I donโt think heโs had any fighters, to my knowledge, fight on my shows. I really donโt think that has happened. Weโve put fighters in Prizefighter, etc.
Has Eddie Hearn been good for boxing?
Ross Widdup, Facebook
Letโs not get it wrong, what has been good for boxing is Eddie Hearn AND his dad. Behind the scenes, if you speak to certain fighters, theyโll tell you that they dealt only with the dad. Maybe thatโs because they couldnโt get what they wanted from the son, I donโt know. But itโs Sky Sports that are good for boxing, and thatโs what youโve got to look at; Sky were pulling out of the sport when I walked away [to set up BoxNation]. But theyโve got back into it, and have made all the money [for boxing] available to Matchroom and thatโs been great for the British fighters. I have no problem with competition. Donโt forget I was the one that started out suffering from competition because when I started out there was just BBC. ITV didnโt show domestic boxing so there were only two channels and they were tied up with Mickey Duff. Nobody had it worse than I did. It was a monopoly.
Do you feel let down to have missed out on the Wladimir Klitschko-Tyson Fury showdown and were you planning to put in a bid to stage the contest?
@rocco_619, Twitter
Itโs quite complicated, and there are things going on at the moment. What I feel let down by is peoplesโ word. Thatโs the best way I can put it at this stage but I do feel let down by people who gave me their word which unfortunately they didnโt keep.
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