Eddie Hearns doubles down: "Tyson Fury is not entertaining in the ring. But AJ is ****ing epic!"

Same here: I'd rather watch the slick, silky smooth style of the Gypsy King over some plodding, one-dimensional, big, stiff bodybuilder any day of the week.

 

Could've been worse: El Chicano would've surely referred to Fast Car as "Hearnz".

 

I think 5,000+ people In Las Vegas paying to watch two foreigners (one a complete unknown even to most hardcore boxing fans) in a terrible mismatch is pretty good work.
I'd have had trouble convincing Fury's 5 biggest fans on these forums to part with cash to attend that, nevermind travel for it.
Then consider Fury doesn't even have the "casuals" fanbase, and even his big fans were only mildly interested ........ and the fight was free with ESPN for sports fans in USA ....... it's kind of impressive that they found over 5,000 paying customers for that !

Seriously.

 

Absolutely. I can see the casual appeal for AJ's style but I personally never rated him very highly, nor got too excited watching him.

Always enjoyed watching Fury. The whole 'he's a great fighter but boring to watch' is nothing but an opinion. Chisora, Hammer, Schwarz - I could happily watch that boxing and level of skill for 20 rounds at a time. I loved the Klitschko and Wilder fights - immobilized the game of two beasts. And Fury's early career was a rollercoaster; flashes of brilliance and bouts of calamity - a young man with serious potential is what he was. Potential was officially fulfilled in Dusseldorf.

 

I'm not sure where this myth came from. Any good promoter nickels and dime everything. To say the gate revenue is irrelevant is a nonsense. Floyd Mayweather would sell record breaking PPV's yet he also had huge gates they wanted to sell tickets and generate as much money as possible. You can't tell me $20 mil Gate isn't important in the grand scheme of revenue.

If Canelo fights GGG is September yes for DAZN it's all about subs revenue but GBP will be expecting to sell out an arena at high tickets prices and generating a $25 mil+ gate. The idea that that they wouldn't really be bothered if say the gate was $10 mil when the last fight it was $27 mil is crazy talk.

Promoters want to sell tickets not forgetting empty seats on TV doesn't look good.

Also if Man Utd suddenly started selling 50% less tickets every other week shareholder's would be asking what the heck is going on.

 

Of course, but you seem to get upset when people suggest he's not as popular as you think he is. And you can at least sort of measure popularity by things like ticket sales, viewing figures and so on.

 

I thought the Cunningham fight was very exciting. Was also in MSG, albeit the smaller venue iirc.

 

What are you crying about now Tony?

 

With regard to the highlighted part of your quote, his up-and-down thriller against Neven Pajkic, when he had been a pro for around three years, is one that always stands out for me, to the point where I rewatch it every now and then to remind myself that, yes, it did actually happen. Okay, it wasn't Tyson at his technical best, but the momentum swings in that fight were just crazy. Fury gets dropped very heavily by an overhand right bomb in the second, looked like he was one shot away from getting stopped, and manages to turn the fight on it's head in the third:

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If you want to go there and make the comparison, all of Ali's fights in the first part of his career, from Liston II to Folley, were all painfully one-sided; but people paid money to see Ali and tuned in to see Ali because he not only had an entertaining style, but was also a larger-than-life character, a totemic figure who was inspiring people and changing the times he lived in. Not to say that Tyson will become anywhere near as influential a person as Ali was back in the mid 1960's and the 1970's, but he certainly has an entertaining personality and an inspirational redemption story, which makes it easy for people to relate to Tyson and connect with him.

 

My opinion for what it's worth, I thought the Vegas show was a success if you consider it as part of an overarching long term plan rather than the one off.
You can argue regards tickets sold etc but I'm amazed it sold 5k for a terrible undercard and an uncompetitive main event.
However it really sold the Fury brand, the ring walk, the matrix style slipping are all perfect for the modern social media plus it was an exciting fight and I believe got high viewing figures.
I also believe they broadcast a lengthy documentary on him in the week before the fight.

It all helps to build his recognition in America ahead of the big fight with Wilder which will be the true acid test.
Don't forget the Joshua fight didn't sell out with a big undercard and I read next to no extra DAZN subscriptions.

Presuming that the Wilder fight isn't till next Feb I think it'd make sense to get Fury out twice again before Christmas.

 

Pakic and USS gave him a wake up call.

He always had the goods, he just decided to switch it up to, you know, play to his strengths and win the world title

 

I like Fury but let's not pretend that the first McDermott fight never happened, that was the biggest wake up call, he lost that fight and everyone knows it.

 

"His got a very good promoter..........................................................in Bob Arum"

That line was savage

 

No what was savage was Bob Arum verbally trashing Hearn to his face at the Lomachenko-Crolla press conference and Hearn just grinning David Brent-like trying to laugh it off.

Arum literally insults Hearn to his face yet treats Warren with the utmost respect in interviews and especially in his presence. That tells you all you need to know about Hearn and Warren and how each is perceived by actual kingpins in the sport.

 

You do realise that line was not aimed at Bob Arum.