By Matt Lieberman: Promoter Eddie Hearn says his goal is to “control boxing” globally, and he’s using the UFC as the model that he’s hoping to emulate.

If Hearn is successful, there would be one company in charge of all boxing, and the sanctioning bodies would be a thing of the past.

Hearn feels he’s the man for the job, and he thinks it would be a mistake for anyone to bet against him achieving that goal.

There are a lot of obstacles in Hearn’s way of becoming the man that controls boxing. Three powerhouse promotional organizations would stymy Hearn from taking over the sport:

Top Rank
Golden Boy Promotions
Premier Boxing Champions

Additionally, the four sanctioning bodies would make it difficult for Hearn as well, unless he was able to create his own ranking body. Hearn would need to convince the fighters that they’re better off being part of the ranking body than the four below alphabet governing bodies:

Hearn wants to use UFC model to have a single boxing entity

“My drive is to control boxing,” said Hearn to IFL TV. “That is the only way I see 100% pure success in my head, and that’s to control the sport globally and have a single entity running boxing like the UFC.

“And if I don’t create that, then I don’t think I’ll ever get to where I want it to be. They don’t have to whisk into the sunset. There’s plenty of ways to skin that cat. But if you want to bet against me, you’ll see.

“What you should be saying is, ‘if that’s on his mind and he’s going for that, I wouldn’t bet against him.’ Well, then say that instead of ‘Highly unlikely,’ you f****. It’s not about ‘You just want a monopoly.’

“No, I want to change the sport for the better, and the only way I can get the sport to where I want it to be is to have that model. It’s like the UFC. How many times have I told you, the UFC is the model, the UFC leads the way.

“The UFC doesn’t have the history of the sport of boxing, right? I believe with the right model; we can actually outperform the UFC. We’re a bigger sport than the UFC, but they have it right.

“They have the model right, they have the marketing, the distribution, they have the social media presence, and they have the right guy to help in Dana White. I’m sorry. And I’m not blowing my own trumpet, but I’m the only man for the job. I’m the only one that can do it,” said Hearn.

Bigger fights possible

In a lot of ways, it would help the sport tremendously to have one company like Matchroom running it using the UFC model. What that means is there would likely be much bigger fights involving the talented boxers.

Instead of the various promoters creating club-like match-making with the way they often schedule in-house fights with their own fighters, we would see the best against the best. That’s an advantage the UFC has over boxing.

They have nothing blocking them from making the best fights that the fans want to see, and that’s resulted in them creating a tremendous amount of success in a short period.

While some see an absence of competition as a bad thing in a monopoly situation, in boxing, it could help. The competition in the sport has limited the type of fights that fans get to see.

For example, in the welterweight division, the PBC fighters tend to fight each other, and Top Rank is left of the equation at times.

That’s hurt the sport because boxing fans have been unable to see fighters from those two promotional companies facing each other. It’s kind of like the AFL and NFL in football.

Those were two leagues that operated separately from one another. It wasn’t until 1970 that the two leagues merged, and fans got to see the teams from those two leagues play against each other. In boxing, it’s not quite as drastic as that, but it’s close.

Governing bodies would no longer be needed

“Sometimes in these situations that we’re in, you’ve got to start looking at the sport and the business and say, ‘Do we want to be held for ransom by the governing bodies to not make fights?’ The fighters want to be undisputed, and the fighters want to be unified champions,” said Hearn.

“But it gets to the point where if you’re not willing to allow the sport to make big fights in this kind of environment, we’re all f*****. Maybe you lose all belts. You know these governing bodies take percentages of fighters’ purses.

“And when you add up five, which is the amount of belts that will be on the line for that fight [Joshua vs. Fury], an awful lot of money. So you may get to the stage where fighters turn around and say, ‘Do you know what’ or promoters turn around and say, ‘do you know what?’

“They turn around and say, ‘do we need a belt?’ The aim of the game and the history the governing bodies have created means the answer is, ‘Yes, we do want belts,’ but we can’t be ruled by a governing body that,” said Hearn.

Perhaps one of the most significant benefits of a single entity controlling boxing would be the governing bodies being done away with. With a unique control company, there would no longer be a need for the IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO.

You can argue that that would be a tremendous boost to the sport for all four of those sanctioning bodies to be eliminated.

Instead of champions being stuck making mandatory defenses against dreadfully mediocre mandatory challengers, better-qualified contenders could be picked out to face the champs.

Sanctioning bodies aren’t responsible for financial risks

“The governing body is not responsible for the financial risk associated with events and shows, right?” continued Hearn. “So you [the governing body] gets your percentage, no problem.

“If you have a bad night and the pay-per-view don’t go well if the gate is not there, they [sanctioning bodies] don’t get any less money. So they have no risk for them.

“But they need to understand the risk, particularly in this environment and this time that we’re under as promoters. As much as people moan about promoters, they’re the ones putting up the dough right now.

“So are the TV companies. And the risk is always on the promoter to stage fights and to try and make a profit. Sometimes make a loss. There are not many fighters that when you turn around and do your bollox on a show, who will go, ‘Blimey, do you want me to take a little bit less? I’m devastated for you,’ because nobody ever feels sorry for a promoter.

“But you can’t just sit there like a governing body going on like that when the whole world is crumbling, and the whole economy is crumbling, and the whole revenue into boxing events is crumbling.

“And everyone is going, ‘I don’t give a monkey just give me my dough,'” said Hearn.

The rankings by the sanctioning bodies often put fighters with little talent or popularity into the top spots in the rankings. This puts a burden on the promoters, who can’t make money matching their champions against contenders with nothing to offer.

The sanctioning bodies aren’t affected by shows that don’t sell due to their ranking of a mediocre fighter. It’s the promoters that are hurt by this. For this reason, it makes sense for the sanctioning bodies to be done away with permanently.