Sunday Times Eddie/Barry Hearn article December 30th

Damage control?
Bazza looks like the bad guy in Indiana Jones The Last Crusade (picked the wrong cup of the covenant)
Eddie says he's the governor.

Eddie Hearn is fighting back after rival's Fury-Wilder promotion grabbed the publicity initiative
(lovely few words by Nick Pitt & couldn't put it better.

Eddie Hearn - I'd be a mug not to ask Dad for advice but it's me who makes the decisions'

 

Part 1 (credit goes to Nick Pitt)
At Wembley stadium on the evening of April 17th it seemed to Barry Hearn his life as a sports entrepreneur and his pride as a father had reached a glorious fulfilment.
Anthony Joshua, who had been guided to the world heavyweight title by Hearn, father and son, was defending his crown against the great former champion, Wladimir Klitschko. Wembley was sold out, pay-per-view receipts would be huge
and the coffers of MatchRoom Sports, Hearn's company would soon be overflowing agreeably.
Barry sat at ringside, next to his son, Eddie, the event's promoter. Barry was relaxed because he thought Klitschko had been so poor when defeated by Tyson Fury in his previous fight that he reckoned he was a ''shot'' fighter. And
when Joshua duly knocked down Klitschko in the fifth round, Barry was not surprised. Indeed, he exchanged brief, smug grins with Eddie.
But in the sixth round, Klitschko, who had been shaken from his defensive inhibitions, attacked and knocked down Joshua, who rose on unsteady legs. Joshua, the titles, the businessplan, Hearn's fullfilment, were all naked and vulnerable.
Barry turned to Eddie and said: ''Have you got the rematch clause?''
''Yes.''
''Thank F*ck for that.''
The headquarters of Matchroom, which may be the most successful sports promotion company in the world, is an early-Georgian mansion near Brentwood in Essex. Last Friday, most of the staff were still on holiday but Barry, suited, and Eddie, usually casual in a tracksuit, were back at work. In the forecourt, Barry's Bentley and Eddie's Rolls Royce were within chatting distance. The Roller, superior, has personalised number plates. ''Bit naff,'' Barry says.
''You see, people, don't get it,'' Barry says inside the office, referring to the Joshua-Klitschko fight and declaring himself not just an accountant by profession but a sportsman at heart. ''I was in shock, but not because Joshua is our
golden goose, or money spinner, but because he's our man, the man we're behind.'' And, of course Joshua went on to win so that Hearn's night of turmoil ended in even greater fullfilment.
As Matchroom founder and chairman, Barry Hearn has the best office, quite rightly, with a view across the lawns towards the city of London. The M25 is obscured and cannot be heard within the building. He is 70, 16 years on
from his mid-life heart attack, but in good shape.
''I'm not slowing down.'' he says. ''If anything, i'm getting more intense and relentless. It's all-consuming. You can't ride a merry go round with one foot on the floor. You're either on it or off it.
His handshake is very firm and he takes pride in a traing regime that includes 700 sit-ups a day, aiming for 1,000. All energy and charm, he smiles a lot. He is tall, handsome, warm, but you get the feeling that if he were crossed, those blue
laser-eyes would turn cold. Hearn has reorganised the business in the past few years. Truted lieutenants run the various sports divisions - darts, pool, fishing and so forth - and Eddie, who cut his teeth running Matchroom golf and poker
after leaving public school in a hurry, runs the boxing.
Barry, fully active but unsure as to how much time will be left for him, is reflective and philosophical. ''We're not that important, a speck of humanity,'' he says. ''But how lucky we are, because every day is exciting. Basically, I'M A SALESMAN, BUT A CREATIVE SALESMAN. When I started out it was me, a girl and a part-time book-keeper underneath a billard hall. In 1982, I made £1.4 million selling my share in 20 snooker halls.I could have taken it easy but something drove me on
Now we are involved in 13 different sports, soon to be 14 or 15, and put on 700 events a year. It's a global business. I honestly believe i'm the best in the world at what I do.''
Ok, but what the sporting world wants to know on the threshold of 2019 is whether and when Joshua is going to fight either Fury or Deontay Wilder, whose thrilling contest at the beginning of December tilted the heavyweight global axis.
Barry the sportman is excited too. It's fascinating like the old days , he says. ''The heavyweight division is in the shape of its life. We're all going to do well. The fans will have some of the most memorable nights of their lives. To use the old cliche, I'll sell you a seat but you'll onyl need the edge of it. We have Wilder who can't box too well but can punch, and Fury who can box but doesn;t punch that hard, then Joshua who can box and punch.
All of them are unbeaten, but that doesn't matter. The only time an unbeaten record is essential is in an age of mediocrity, because it separates you from the mediocre. In our age of excellence, like the old days of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, a loss is not the end of the world.''
At present, the key bruiser in the triangulation is Wilder. He must decide whether his next fight will be a rematch with Fury or a fight against Joshua which would unify all the titles sanctioned by boxing's various governing bodies. ''If I was Wilder's advisor, I would do a two fight deal with Eddie now,'' Hearn said. ''He would be paid alot of money for each fight, with the first at Wembley and the second in Las Vegas.''

 

WTF is going on why can't I copy and paste Part 2?

 

For some reason I can't post Part 2 - basically they will duck Wilder and Fury.

 

Part 2
Around the corridors, at the side of the mansion, Eddie Hearn's office has a view of the rose garden. At 39, Eddie is a burly, athletic man with dark hair and cultivated stubble. He resembles his father in his height and frequent. It has been suggested , not at least by Frank Warren, the Hearn's main rival in boxing promotion, that it is really Barry, not Eddie, who calls the shots. Eddie is not too bothered but insists that in Matchroom boxing he is the governor. ''I'd be a mug if I didn't ask my dad for advice but for the past six or seven years, he has not made one decision'' he said. The negotiations for Joshua's fights are conducted by Eddie, who is well aware that Fury and Wilder has grabbed the publicity initiative, that Joshua's position as the No1 heavyweight, and even his relish to take on all-comers, IS NOW BEING QUESTIONED. The first date booked is April 13th at Wembley. ''Joshua is desperate to fight Wilder,'' Eddie says. ''He wants to be unified champion. That is the Holy Grail for him but it has also become a personal thing. He doesn't forget insults and some of Wilder's comments have lit an extra torch inside of him.

''Joshua rings me every day, saying 'Bring me Wilder'. (-More like keep him away from me-) but he also knows that we have to play it tactically correct. We have to stay calm and not fall for some ridiculous deal. We know we'll have to

give Wilder a better deal. than he deserves but we're prepared to do that to get to the Holy Grail.

There is an ongoing dialogue with Wilder's people. Our latest offer is a straight two-fight deal. If Wilder gets knocked out in the first round, he will still get a rematch, in America. But we need a response by the end of January.

Last year, when negotiations for a Joshua-Wilder fight broke down (which led to Wilder fighting Fury instead), the problems were to do with the share of the purse, rematch clauses and bad personal relations between Eddie and Wilder's

old-school New York manager Shelly Finkel.

The rematch problem has been resolved by Hearn's latest offer, and relations with Finkel have improved. ''The other day he advised me to get a stress test,'' Hearn says. ''He said he had a heart attack and so had my dad. I put the phone

down, picked it up again and arranged a test. Shelly was right. The aggravation in boxing is terrible''.

How did the test go? ''Fine. I'm a big lump but like my dad i try to keep fit.''

And the Joshua-Wilder fight? Hearn does bit rule it out, but the division of spoils remains intractable. In all probability, the world, including Joshua, will have to wait. (Meaning 2019 will be year of the DUCK)