By Gav Duthie: It seems like Eddie Hearn is batting zero for five on his Sky Sports christmas wish list for 2015. When asked what he wanted for this year on the Christmas special for Ringside 2014 his answer was the following fights.
Kell Brook v Amir Khan
Carl Froch v Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr
James DeGale v George Groves
Scott Quigg v Carl Frampton
Anthony Joshua v Tyson Fury
Barring a miracle it seems unlikely he will be able to deliver any of these fights in the six months remaining of 2015. Are they just difficult fights to make or should he be looking at his abilities as a successful promoter?
Kell Brook v Amir Khan
Hearn culpability: 3/10
I can’t blame Eddie too much for this one to be honest. The basic fact is Khan is avoiding it. Yes Amir has blamed Hearn for some disrespectful comments but he has also used all the excuses under the sun for not fighting Kell. When Floyd Mayweather retires it could be a different story but at the moment he gets the benefit of the doubt.
Carl Froch v Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr
Hearn Culpability: 0/10
Nothing he could do about this one. Chavez career is a mess right now and fighting Fonfara at 175 lbs was a huge mistake. Its a pity for Froch because I think he would have won this easily and it would have been a nice goodbye fight for him. As a result it looks like Froch will retire as he seems less keen on fighting Gennady Golovkin.
James DeGale v George Groves
Hearn Culpability: 6/10
There was a huge twitter battle between Hearn and Groves and it all got a little childish. Groves suggested that ‘Daddy’ aka Barry Hearn was the real boss and Eddie would need his permission to offer a decent purse. Hearn’s cringe-worthy response was to have a dig at Groves for losing to Froch at Wembley. I’m not sure what this was trying to achieve. However Groves promoter Kalle Sauerland was clearly maneuvering Groves to the WBC title holder Anthony Dirrell when he fought Rebrasse and seeing that Badou Jack defeated Dirrell they have made the right decision. Groves v DeGale could be a bigger fight next year.
Scott Quigg v Carl Frampton
Hearn Culpability: 6/10
Of the five fights he wanted this was clearly the closest to being made. It seemed negotiations between Matchroom and Cyclone Promotions (Barry McGuigan) were going rather slowly. As a result Hearn staged a press conference with a take it or leave it cheque for £1.5 million for Frampton to accept. McGuigan was livid saying it needed to be a 50/50 promotion. Hearns gamble didn’t pay off at all but a lot of the blame I apportion to McGuigan. He is a rookie promoter and he is holding his fighter back. I am glad to see he is now taking advice from Al Haymon and hopefully as a result this fight can happen in the future.
Anthony Joshua v Tyson Fury
Hearn culpability: 1/10
I don’t even know why he mentioned this as a potential clash. He knows that they will probably fight at some point but at the moment they are in different stages of their careers. It was probably more dreaming than reality that this could happen in 2015. Fury is in negotiations to fight Wladimir Klitschko and whether or not he wins or loses a fight with AJ is still big business.
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