Eddie Hearn has shrugged off his split with Canelo Alvarez after the Mexican fighter left Matchroom for a rival promoter.
Alvarez, with 59 wins and two draws from his 63 fights, is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time and currently holds the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring super middleweight titles. And seven of his last eight contests have been promoted by Hearn and co, and shown live by DAZN.
But the 32-year-old has not signed a deal with Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions (PBC). The broadcaster has previously had the rights to the first two clashes between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, and drew 800,000 viewers when Canelo fought Caleb Plant in 2021.
But speaking to the Boxing Social YouTube channel, Hearn denied there was any animosity over the saga, arguing the move could benefit both parties: “I think it's a good move for him. Now we have to look at that huge pot of money for Canelo fights and bring big fights to DAZN. 2022 was Matchroom's year, 2023 right now is PBC's year. We wanna win.”
Canelo has won his last two fights, but is still reeling from his shock loss in Las Vegas to Dmitry Bivol in May last year. And Hearn, 44, conceded that Matchroom's failure to negotiate a rematch between their former client and his Russian rival proved critical.
"Look we always want to promote Canelo Alvarez," he added. "We never made him an offer and we didn't have a fight for him for September. We were asked to make the Bivol fight that wasn't possible.
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"I don't know the details (of his new deal), whether it's two fight, is it three fight? But he's got to make his move. I spoke to him last night, I wished him all the best. We've done seven of his last eight fights, it's been an amazing run. I'm sure we'll work together again but now, he has to make his move."
It's been an explosive week for Hearn, who has also hit back at Dillian Whyte after the 'Body Snatcher' claimed the promoter had been ignoring his team's attempts to finalise a fight with Anthony Joshua. Hearn claimed that Whyte initially turned down an offer.
"Now they’ve just come out of the blue and said they accept the offer, right when we are final negotiations for another opponent," he claimed. "So we went straight back to Dillian and said, 'Can you confirm you accept the offer?' And they said, 'Yes we do'. So fantastic, they will have a contract today."
