****** v Hearn long game

Hearn without a doubt.

 

Hearn should outlast Frank, he has everything going for him.

He has the backing of Sky for donkeys years to come, a lot of money, a good stable and he's young.

Frank is a survivor though, can't see him giving up without a fight.

 

are you a promoter and do you have eyes like a fish with ginnger hair and a problem with a certain mr froch:hi:

 

afraid so nowheres safe
agreed ***** will really have to earn his cash in the future

 

Hearn's youngsters a far better than fish eyes'

 

I think this is a fight that Allegedly can't win.

It's not anything that Hearn has done really, it's more the mistakes that Allegedly has made that have ****ed him over.

Throwing money at the 2008 amateurs, assuming Khan would stay with him without tying him to a deal first, trying to desperately hold back Hatton and Calzaghe from becoming mega stars.

He could have kept all three of those and made millions, and made some of his other fighters well off as a result - yet his sheer bloody mindedness got in the way.

The last straw was the signing of the 2008 Olympics during a recession, paying them a fortune but being unable to get them on regularly enough to be able to make anything.

 

Everybody has there time. Not just in Boxing but in other sports and life. I keep hearing Frank talk about Sir Alex Fergersoun, but the key difference between them is when Wenger & Mourinhio came along and got the better of Fergie with there innivotive managment styles, Fergie didn't just keep doing the same thing as before, he took the best ideas from the competition and did them himself. He addapted with the times. Eventually Hearn will have his day just like Frank is now.

For me the key difference between Hearn and Frank is relationships. Hearns relationship with Fighters, Managers, Trainers, Broardcasters, Media and Fans is 100x more posative than Franks is. Frank is at a point where his reputation among those who he needs to have a succesful business is so poor, I don't think there is any turning back.

Anabolic Lion is right, Hearn will keep having success as long as he signs all the top amateurs. But it's not as if Cardle, Stalker, Smith, Yafai etc didn't meet with Frank aswell, and in many cases they will have been offered more money by Frank. But all these guys are close to other fighters, they know whats going on and they can see it for themselves. All the fighters signed to Frank have spent the last 2 years moaning about lack of dates and not getting paid on time, all the Hearn fighters have spent the past 2 years singing his praises. In the time where James DeGale, Tony Bellew, Rocky Fielding, George Groves, Lee Selby, Ricky Burns, Stephen Simmons, John Simpson, Gavin Rees and Kell Brook have all left Frank has a single fighter left the Matchroom stable?

Managers and Trainers want there fighters fighting reguarly to develop there skillset and become attractions. Even if an opponent is a step backwards, there is a logical reason for that fight and it will lead to something bigger. Bellew v Bolanti & Brook v Saldivia were not great fights but now both men are in 50-50 fights where wins will take them to world class. Outside of Nathan Cleverly, I cannot remember a Frank fighter in the past 5 years that built there way to a world title by fighting ranked opponents in eliminators.

Hearns relationship with Sky is obviously seconed to none. But I guarentee Eddie & Barry could walk through the door at ITV, Channel 5 and get a deal for there sports including Boxing. No bridges have neen burnt and Matchroom have a reputation for delivering. Frank has jumped ship from BBC, ITV, Setanta and Sky and was at the point where he had to set up his own TV channel to show his fights. He is in a position now where the long term sucess of BoxNation depends on how well Hearn does on Sky in building a new generation of boxing fans. BoxNation is claimed to be a sucess by Frank but 5 champions (1 World, 1 European, 3 British) have left him since it started and not one has joined him. Fighters are inactive, theres only been 1 Frank promoted card this year which was at the York Hall on a Thursday.

Franks relationship with the Media is one where he has to threaten them with legal action so they don't say anything negative about him. Kevin Mitchells article was a fair assesment of the situation and Frank hated it as it painted him in a bad light. When you heard Mike Costello push him on why Groves left but he aggresivley pushed his "amicable" BS line and changed the subject. Certain BoxingNews journos are banned from his shows same as Boxrec. Boxing Scene have had countless articles taken down from there site througout the years.

Among the fans, Frank is either hated or tolerated. The kindest thing said about him at this point is "Hearn is just as bad as him". On this forum alone you cannot say his name and this thread will be gone by tomorow afternoon. The fact that he blames us for Burns leaving rather than accepting he ****ed up says it all. Theres no interaction with fans on twitter, difficult to get refunds for cards that consistantley fall through.

The only place where Frank beats Hearn right now is he knows how to play the game better. Hearn has to play by the rules which is why you see all his fighters in eliminators and fighting mandatorys. You would never seen a Frank fighter in a dangerous 50-50 eliminator like Bellew is in this weekend. You never see Frank fighters being forced to fight mandatories, they only fight easy mandos when Frank wants them to fight easy mandos. Hearn would have never been able to make Haye v Chisora but Frank got it done using every single loopholl.

 

The issue with them was he signed them to such lucratice deals the rest of his stable suffered as a result. He couldn't afford to have them box every 2 months like they should have been. Theres no way he can be making money from Saunders and Gavin fighting in leisure centers.

Yeh, Calzaghe is an ingrate in Frank's eyes for promoting himself when he had no contract and as owed £3million by Frank!

 

Another problem is that he just focuses on one fighter at a time.

He has a pet project, and everyone else plays second fiddle.

Bellew is a classic example, lost a tight fight to Cleverly, and was completely sidelined, as if he was beaten by a 2-189-7 journeyman.... while Cleverly was hyped up to the eyeballs and then stuck in with Karpency.

It had rematch written all over it. Either in Liverpool or Wales.

 

Wasn't Bellew injured? I actually think Bellew is one situation where Frank is right. He got Tony a world title fight in his hometown against his biggest rival and Bellew is upset because he didn't have a rematch clause as the challanger?

 

Excellent post, Rob.

The only way Frank will become a serious player in British boxing again is if he gets a cushy deal from BT. If he can get a regular deal, similar to what Hearn has with Sky, then that would be enough for him to start making money again, and when he does that, he can sign better talent, put on more shows etc..

There's a fundamental problem with BoxNation though; fighters won't sign to Frank because he can't offer them dates and money on BoxNation. He can't offer fighters dates because his shows lose money as none of his talent are big enough ticket sellers. His fighters can't become ticket sellers because the BoxNation platform is too limited, and because it is limited, Frank can't make big money in order to sign good fighters. It's a vicious circle - he can't attract big names and he can't create them either. He simply doesn't have the exposure needed for a top level promoter. His channel has, what, 30-40,000 subscribers? That's nowhere near enough to make the next Hatton, Calzaghe, Naz or even someone like the next Burns or Mitchell.

The most exposure any of his fighters are guaranteed is in Frank's petty column in The Sun once every week. That's nowhere near enough exposure to create a big name fighter. Every now and then, you'll see a piece on Ringside or Sky Sports News but it's very sporadic and even when you do see something, it doesn't promote the events in the same way a Brook, Bellew or Froch fight is promoted.

BoxNation is a nice idea for boxing fans, similar to what The Wrestling Channel was for wrestling fans, but ultimately, it's unsustainable as a promoters main source of exposure. It's just a niche channel where a small number of hardcore boxing fans can fan watch fights which otherwise wouldn't be shown. It's not a platform for someone who is vying to be the biggest promoter in British boxing.

The best thing which could happen would be for Frank to stop putting all his shows on BoxNation and to switch over to a dedicated BT sports channel. Let BoxNation show more British shows, from promoters like Maloney and Coldwell, and continue to show the international stuff but unless Frank's top level fighters, such as BJS and Cleverly, move onto a bigger platform, they won't be in a position to make serious money. Frank must realise that BoxNation is not big enough.