Eddie Hearn has slammed rival promoter Frank Warren for his s*** undercard before Tyson Fury's world heavyweight title defence against Dillian Whyte.
Fury and Whyte fought in front of a reported crowd of 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, earning an 80-20 split of a world record £31million purse after Warren won the bids. But Hearn believes the record-breaking payouts for the main event cost the event as a whole, with a major lack of starpower in the bouts leading up to the title fight.
Anthony Cacace had been set to do battle with Jonathan Romero, but the bout was cancelled at the last minute. It was replaced in the co-main event with Darren Tetley and Ekow Essuman's British, Commonwealth and European title fight, a far cry from the likes of Lawrence Okolie co-headlining on Hearn's last stadium show for Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk.
"Look, it was a great crowd, great showcase," Hearn told Mirror Fighting . "You can't really say anything negative about the show because I'll get criticised but I'll do it anyway; s*** undercard. The main event wasn't great, but it was a great knockout so everyone leaves happy... [Darren Tetley vs Ekow Ussman] as co-main event? Oh Jesus, if I'd have done that I'd have been shot."
Hearn then explained that had his bid, which would have been a world-record breaker of its own, won the fight, he would have likely moved Conor Benn's recent bout with Chris van Heerden to the undercard. Warren did offer Tommy Fury in his toughest test to date against the 10-1 Daniel Bocianski, after the Brit had been set to headline a major pay-per-view of his own with Jake Paul in December. But Hearn doesn't believe it will have moved the needle much for the card, given that Tyson was already involved.
"You use those nights as a platform for your great talents. We would have moved Conor Benn and put him as co-main event; that's really what those nights are all about. Look, they paid a lot of money for the fight and had nothing left to spend, I understand that. But you saw the response, and we've found in the past that people think the quality of the undercard doesn't reflect on the pay-per-view numbers, it does.
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"Maybe not to the bulk of it, but it definitely does, but again, it was a good win for Tyson Fury. I think if you're buying for Tyson Fury, you're probably buying for Tommy as well. You're not bringing in new buys for Tommy Fury. I'm sure it did good numbers, just look at the crowd. But people do care about the undercard and they do care about value for money."
Hearn is now preparing for an announcement regarding his next heavyweight title fight; the rematch between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk slated for late July. He has said that July 23 is the likely date, although no deal or venue is set in stone as yet.
