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 didn’t happen, that I wasn’t happy about, was Joe Calzaghe against Carl Froch. That was down to Froch at the time, who was a free agent, and basically didn’t want to fight Joe. Most of the time the business calls for them to happen, whether it’s 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 with Eddie Hearn in the future?
Paul Turner, Facebook
When you say work with him, I’m not going to work with him. Many years ago I worked with his father [Barry Hearn]. I’ve had fighters [contracted to Queensberry] work on his [Matchroom] shows and I don’t think he’s had any fighters, to my knowledge, fight on my shows. I really don’t think that has happened. We’ve put fighters in Prizefighter, etc.
Has Eddie Hearn been good for boxing?
Ross Widdup, Facebook
Let’s 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, they’ll tell you that they dealt only with the dad. Maybe that’s because they couldn’t get what they wanted from the son, I don’t know. But it’s Sky Sports that are good for boxing, and that’s what you’ve got to look at; Sky were pulling out of the sport when I walked away [to set up BoxNation]. But they’ve got back into it, and have made all the money [for boxing] available to Matchroom and that’s been great for the British fighters. I have no problem with competition. Don’t forget I was the one that started out suffering from competition because when I started out there was just BBC. ITV didn’t 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
It’s quite complicated, and there are things going on at the moment. What I feel let down by is peoples’ word. That’s 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 didn’t keep.
Click below for part two
What is your proudest achievement in the sport?
Stewart Hale, Facebook
That’s a difficult one. From being involved in boxing from the late seventies, with some fighters who have done well and others not so well, and guys that have made a lot of money out of the sport who have set their families up [financially] – that’s a success story in itself. I’ve done okay along the way but it is a tough business. But overall, my immediate knee-jerk is to say BoxNation, and all the people that are involved in making this a success story. We’re four years old in September and everyone said it wouldn’t last four weeks.
Who was the best British boxer that you’ve ever promoted?
Carlton Knox, Facebook
On his record, it’s got to be Joe Calzaghe. On his ability, it’s Naz [Hamed]. But in the end he neglected his ability. But he was the most talented, the most exciting and he just didn’t live the life unfortunately; outside influences screwed his career up. That said, he thoroughly deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. He beat everybody there was to beat – people vacated titles to fight him. Because of the way things were then we were paying people to vacate. Had he have lived the life he would have achieved even more. Joe [Calzaghe] did extremely well as we all know, but he could have done much better. Some of the fights he had to pull out of, the way he prepared – not properly wrapping his hands – affected him but in my time, he’s the best British boxer. He had some easy defences, like many champions, but people forget how many good fighters he beat.
What would have happened if Carl Froch had fought Joe Calzaghe?
Jane Foster, Facebook
Calzaghe would have been too quick and too smart. He would have done to Froch what he did to Jeff Lacy and that’s no disrespect to Froch. But I looked at the problems Froch had with Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, even Jean Pascal, and I just wonder what Joe would have done to him. Calzaghe at his best would have beaten Froch and Nigel Benn. Every day of the week.
Which fighter has been the hardest to work with?
Andy Bass, Facebook
The hardest one I’ve worked with recently, and it’s not the fighter, is Chris Eubank Jnr. His father [Chris Eubank Snr] has his own way of doing things. The kid [Eubank Jnr] is a really decent fighter. I got him the fight against Dmitry Chudinov for the Interim [WBA] world title, off a loss [to Billy Joe Saunders] because I thought he would win. I did that, talked him into it, not his old man. But it’s created a monster and I think it’s a great shame for Junior because he’s a really talented fighter who has been inactive. The people around him don’t understand boxing and how it works. They don’t understand you have to have time to make a fight, to promote it, to market it and sell the tickets. I’m not prepared to take the risks [on him not fighting] with huge sums of money. I’ve done a fabulous job for that boy. But you know, boxing is what it is, you’re dealing with all types of people. There’s been a lot of disappointments but I don’t focus on that. I focus on the success stories and that’s what keeps you going.
Who’s the best promoter you’ve worked with?
Anthony Cook, Facebook
From my generation it’s Don King and Bob Arum. Bob is a very, very astute guy. He’s created and built markets – like the Hispanic market, and he’s done the same thing in the Far East. Look at his age and his intelligence and he’s still there, still doing it, and he’s doing it better than most. Don is fearless in business. He was one of those that would do the deal and then he’d go and sell the deal. In his prime, he was phenomenal.
If you could pick one fighter from the past or present that you wish you had promoted who would it have been?
@TrickShot78, Twitter
Sugar Ray Leonard. He was a big hero of mine and I really enjoyed watching him. From a promoter’s point of view, he’s a promoter’s dream – like Muhammad Ali was. The press have access to him, there’s not all this bullshit with agents. The reason Leonard is so popular, that he’s an icon, is because he was so accessible. He was a man of the people. A lot of today’s top boxers should look at that and take note. Leonard and Ali, they’re the guys I’d love to promote.
Click below for part three
Is there a British fighter active now who can go on and duplicate the success of Ricky Hatton and Joe Calzaghe?
Rachel Jenkinson, Facebook
There’s a few out there now. I see a few from the other side [Matchroom] but let’s focus on the guys I’m working with. Trouble is you mention names and then you upset people but the first that spring to mind are Jack Catterall, who is an exceptional talent, Terry Flanagan is now a world champion, Liam Smith is knocking on the door, Mitchell Smith will go on and do big things. There’s a lot of young fighters, and these kids are going to take the sport into the future.
What do you look back upon as the biggest regret in your career?
Lee McLoughlin, Facebook
I’m a positive person and don’t look back. I live in the now and think about what we’re doing tomorrow. But if I do think back, there have been a lot of disappointments. How it ended with Naz, how it ended with Calzaghe, and I remember Nigel Benn sodding off but to his credit, in his book, he said he should have stayed with me. Naz has gone on record as saying the same. But in recent years, it’s Ricky Burns – I think he was totally misadvised and misinformed by [his manager] Alex Morrison. I offered Burns the [Adrien] Broner fight and it wouldn’t have been the end of the world if he’d lost but he could have won it. But he was talked out of it. It all got quite upsetting. People think I started the legal action – I didn’t.
Where do you see boxing in 10 years?
Jean Carlton, Facebook
Boxing will evolve as technology evolves. I don’t see Sky being involved like they are now in 10 years time. Kids now don’t watch television. They watch stuff on their phones or their iPads, but live sport delivers a live audience. Will Sky be able to afford to keep the Premiership for the next 10 years? Will the football clubs do their own thing? Will someone come in and do to Sky what they did to ITV? Someone will come in and grab it, whether it be someone like a Google or a Vodafone. Whoever it may be, something will happen. Boxing will evolve and as long as we’ve got the live content we’ll be part of that evolution The sport will evolve, and so will the way that people watch it.
If you could make one fight in history, what would it be?
Charlie Peak, Facebook
Naz versus [Barry] McGuigan… for various reasons. I’d also like to have made Joe Calzaghe versus John Conteh at light-heavyweight.
What exactly happened with Mike Tyson in Glasgow?
@geemanfree, Twitter
Well, what he said happened in the American version of his book [The Undisputed Truth] was absolute bollocks. According to what he said, I’d got broken ribs, a broken jaw and a broken eye socket. Well, if anyone goes on YouTube they’ll see me standing in the ring [before Tyson’s fight with Lou Savarese] and I’m chewing bubble gum and blowing bubbles. I’m sure anyone with broken ribs wouldn’t have been able to bend over and climb through the ropes. It’s just a fantasy. I don’t know who wrote that book, and if he [Tyson] told them to write that. But a lot of the stuff that has been said that occurred between me and him is bollocks.
So what did happen?
Boxing News
You’ll be able to read about it in my upcoming book
