I was looking at the Boxrec info for last night's card (can't remember why - anyway) - the various promoters were listed as you'd expect, including Spencer Braaaahn, but as usual BoxRec lists the "matchmaker" as Steve Furness. Pretty much all the Riyadh events have had his stamp. So I'm clueless here, what's the separation of role between matchmaker and promoter, and given the Saudi Official says he picks the fights, what's the need for a matchmaker? Is it just an official role that someone has to play to keep the Board happy?
Steve Furness is QP house matchmaker. A matchmaker is a bbbc licensed holder but can also be done by the promoters themselves. So a promoter can match his own shows but its a job in itself and can be quite time consuming. Most promoters including small hall promoters usually hire matchmakers. Some small hall promoters do match themselves to save a bit of £
So for a show like this, it might be as much as finding the (supposed) knockover opponents for Eubank Jr and Quittaker, and maybe sorting the Massey fight? The rest of the card kind of matched itself
Yes, he was. Finding the right opponents at the right time is an art. Mickey Duff was an excellent matchmaker back in the day. Today we should mention Steve Lillis who does a really good job for GBM.