By Sean Jones: Eddie Hearn says the U.S boxing fans will be asked to pay a ton of money in the upcoming pay-per-view cards from June through August.

Eddie feels that the fans get a better value with DAZN than if they choose to purchase the expensive PPV events in the U.S this summer. Of course, if the boxing fans have the means to pay for all the PPV cards, it’s no big deal.

Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing stable will be moving from Sky Sports to DAZN in the UK.

However, Anthony Joshua still has one fight left on his contract with Sky, and it’s unclear whether Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora will stay with Sky or come over to DAZN.

According to Hearn, the total cost of all the events to the fans will be charged 500 quid [$700] for all the PPV boxing events in the U.S from June through August.

In contrast, if the U.S fans chose to subscribe to DAZN, they could save themselves a lot of money, Hearn maintains. However, on the negative side, the fans won’t get a chance to see these PPV fights:.’

Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley
Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Logan Paul
Gervonta Davis vs. Mario Barrios
Manny Pacquiao vs. Errol Spence Jr
Deontay Wilder vs. Tyson Fury
Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos

Granted, some of those fights arguably don’t belong on pay-per-view. But if the fans aren’t willing to shell out the big bucks to see the better fights, their only option is DAZN.

U.S PPV events to be costly

“That’s not a bad fight,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV on the Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley fight. “That’s a lot better fight than Logan Paul vs. Floyd Mayweather, but I guess Jake Paul beats him.

“I believe that fights on Showtime pay-per-view. In America right now, this is when you talk about DAZN in terms of the value it gives fight fans.

“In America right now, you’ve got [Teofimo] Lopez against Kambosos pay-per-view, you’ve got Gervonta Davis – Barrios pay-per-view, they’re both in June, you’ve got Wilder-Fury pay-per-view in July, you’ve got Spence-Pacquiao pay-per-view in August, and then the week after, you’ve got Jake Paul-Tyron Woodley pay-per-view.

“It’s going to cost you 500 quid over about two months to watch boxing in the U.S. That’s why the power of DAZN is so powerful in terms of the value it delivers. I’m just saying,” said Hearn said.

Some U.S boxing fans might argue that if they only stick with the fights on DAZN, there won’t be a lot of great fights. If Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin stay on DAZN, it’s a great bargain.

There are many PBC fighters that fans won’t get to see if they don’t purchase their fights on PPV. It looks like Gervonta Davis will be on PPV from now on, which is a letdown.

DAZN going for £1.99 in the UK for now

“It will do in the short term because it’s a tremendous way to build subscribers and showcase the platform,” Hearn said when told that the £1.99 per month price for DAZN in the UK won’t stay that low for long before the streaming giant raises the price soon.

“Yeah, of course, once we put the schedule together that we will be, it won’t stay at that price point for that period.

“But I know what the price point will be, and you’re going to be extremely happy with that. But in the short-term for now, it’ll stay at £1.99.

“The great news is for Fight Camp, it’ll also stay at £1.99. Moving forward, once that main schedule kicks in after Fight Camp, I’m sure they’ll make relative announcements, but I promise you, you’ll be more than happy with the price point.

“I think it’s going to be less than you think it is. Once we finish, I’ll ask you what you think it is, and I bet it’s less than what you think it is.

“That’s them for the moment, an introductory price of £1.99. Six it stands through June through July through August, the Fight Camp.

“This isn’t just about live events, this is about the content we’re going to be delivering on that platform,” said Hearn.

Eddie isn’t saying how much of a price hook the UK monthly subscription rate for DAZN will jump to. If it goes from £1.99 to £10.99 per month, it won’t be a great deal for fans like it is right now.

New commentators being added to DAZN in UK

“Of course, the global events, this is going to be about the analysis,” said Hearn. “You guys are so passionate about the broadcast and presenting team. Wait, you haven’t got long.

“Starting in four days’ time, we will start dropping you the talent. You know some of them already.

“It is absolutely nuts because we get a chance to build the production. Matchroom Media, working closely with DAZN, will be running the live production for these shows.

“Wait until you see the production for these events, wait until you see the talent, the commentators, the presenter, the analytical team.

“It’s absolutely top draw. I’m sure they’ll still get moaned at because that’s what British fight fans do, but this is high-level sh*t.

“When I announce next week the first five or six members of that team, you’ll see why. It’s a mixture,” Hearn said when asked if it’s brand new people.

“What we didn’t want to do, by the way, Sky has a tremendous amount of talent. We didn’t want this to look just like Sky.

“This is exciting, this is new, this is fresh, but we don’t just want to bring in a team of analysts randomly from nowhere.

“You’ve got a mixture of industry legends, future Hall of Fame fighters, and a fresh new approach as well to talent, commentary, presentation. Like I said, high-end doesn’t do this justice,” said Hearn.

New commentators for UK DAZN are less important than the price, and it’s pretty obvious who will be the main talking heads. Tony Bellew is likely one of the guys that Hearn brings over, and it won’t be surprising to see David Haye.

It would be great to have someone like David Diamonte doing commenting. He knows boxing well, and it would be interesting to have him as one of the leading analysts.

Hearn denies he’s taking a risk with Matchroom

“This is not a gamble because of the size of the deal, the vision of the deal, and the opportunity for our fighters, the business, and the sport,” said Hearn when asked if he’s taking a gamble in moving Matchroom away from Sky to DAZN.

“I had such a great position, a life with Sky. I had a great deal, a great platform, a great bunch of people, and then an opportunity come along for me to mold the vision for British boxing in the way I wanted to do it.

“This for me is my ultimate opportunity. It’s not a gamble in the slightest. It’s an ultimate opportunity to build something that will go down in history, and I feel like I’ve already done that in the last ten years.

“If you think what I’ve done in the last ten years is impressive, wait until you’ve seen this.

“DAZN is the unrivaled home of boxing, and we will be doing so many shows around the world at such a high level, and it all comes down to the budget.

“That’s why there is zero risks in what we do. I can’t wait. A huge thank you to Sky, but this is a huge opportunity of a lifetime,” said Hearn.

There is risk leaving a popular platform like Sky. What happens if DAZN goes belly up and folds? After Hearn leaves Sky, they will replace his promotional company with another to supply the talent.

If Hearn wants to come back to Sky at some point, maybe they won’t have a spot for him. Being on Sky has helped Hearn pick up new fighters over the years. Now that Hearn is leaving Sky, will he continue getting new fighters to join Matchroom?