Eddie Hearn has been at the helm of some of the greatest events in boxing, but has also been involved in one of the worst, early in his promoting career.
Eddie Hearn was around boxing his entire life after his father, Barry Hearn’s promotional career.
Having taken up the mantle of boxing promoter, Hearn has been involved in some of boxing’s biggest events such as Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko, though he did tell of one of his worst failures involving David Haye and an Olympic gold medallist early on in his career.
Eddie Hearn faced abuse after hosting terrible fight between David Haye and Audley Harrison
In JaackMaate’s Happy Hour podcast, Hearn spoke to the host, Jack, on one of the worst nights of his career, which began when he attempted to sign Olympic gold medallist Audley Harrison.
Hearn, who bet £1M on Conor Benn against Chris Eubank Jr. said: “I was sitting down with Audley Harrison and I spun him a dream. His career was pretty much over, I said ‘We’ll bring you back in Prizefighter, win the European title, and then I’ll get you David Haye’.”
He said of Harrison: “Audley was one of the best self-promoters, marketers and he was six foot seven, he won the Olympic gold medal, but he just didn’t have it in him.”
The fight happened in 2010 when Haye’s record was 24-1, and Harrison’s was 27-4. Though seemingly a decent match-up, the fight failed to deliver massively.
But when the fight came around, Hearn said: “He didn’t throw a punch and he got stopped in the third round.”
The Essex promoter revealed fans were throwing things at Harrison and shouting abuse at both him and at Hearn himself.
Despite Hearn, who Gervonta Davis dislikes, believing the night to be a disaster, it was the beginning of his promotional career, which has reached countless heights in the sport.
Eddie Hearn listed this all-female affair as one of the best nights in his boxing career
Whilst Harrison vs Haye was somewhat a disaster, Hearn has been involved in numerous nights of fantastic boxing, with Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano being one of them.
The pair fought in the highest-profile female boxing match ever in Madison Square Garden.
Taylor, who Natasha Jonas wants to fight again, defeated Serrano by split decision in defense of her lightweight titles, but the fight was so good a rematch was on the cards as soon as the judges’ scorecards were announced.
Hearn said of the fight to the BBC: “We just saw one of the best fights in boxing history at the mecca of boxing. Unbelievable.”
“What a performance. What heart from both girls. Just the most stunning fight I’ve seen. To see it here at MSG, in this kind of environment, amazing.”
Taylor defeated Serrano by unanimous decision in their rematch, though the fight was again close, and many are waiting with bated breath for the Taylor Serrano trilogy, which is set to take place on July 11th.