By Scott Gilfoid: Kid Galahad’s eleventh round knockout victory over James ‘Jazza’ Dickens last Saturday night has planted ideas into promoter Eddie Hearn’s head, making him believe that Kid can defeat WBO 126-lb champion Emanuel Navarrete. Oh boy, Hearn has got to be dreaming now if he’s serious, and I don’t think he is.
Last Saturday, the 31-year Galahad (28-1, 17 KOs) picked up the vacant IBF featherweight title with his win over a completely overmatched Jazza (30-4, 11 KOs) at the Matchroom HQ in Brentwood, Essex.
The question is if Hearn REALLY believes Galahad would beat the talented Navarrete, WHY isn’t he talking about wanting to make that fight?
I mean, isn’t it a better deal for Galahad to fight a true champion like Navarrete rather than a secondary one like newly crowned WBA ‘regular’ belt holder Leigh Wood?
I hate to say it, but Hearn might have doubts whether Galahad could get the job done against Navarrete (33-1, 28 KOs), who is a devastating puncher with either hand.
Look at it this way. If Galahad gets ground up to a pulp by Navarrete, his 15 minutes of fame will be over.
Hearn would make Galahad favorite to beat Navarrete
“Honestly, I would make him a favorite against Navarrete because of the style matchup,” said Eddie Hearn to the DAZN Boxing Show on his belief that Kid Galahad beats Emanuel Navarrete.
I’m not sure if Hearn’s feet were on the ground when he said the above about listing Kid Galahad as the favorite over Navarrete.
What’s really telling is that instead of Hearn talking about putting his belief into action by setting up a fight between Galahad and Navarrete, he immediately changed the subject, saying he wants to match Kid against WBA secondary 126-lb champion Leigh Wood or Josh Warrington, if he wins his September 4th rematch against Mauricio Lara.
If Hearn really believed that Kid Galahad could beat a major talent like Emanuel Navarrete, wouldn’t he be trying to set that fight up? I’m just saying.
By now, Hearn has got to know that Navarrete is viewed as the #1 fighter at 126 by many boxing fans. So why in the heck is he blabbering about wanting to match Galahad against the 33-year-old Wood or the recently knocked out Warrington (30-1, 7 KOs)? It’s good business, that’s why.
While it was an impressive victory for Galahad, who threw over 1000+ punches, he wasn’t facing a major talent in the light-hitting 30-year-old Jazza. Galahad was fighting a fodder-level guy, and it was hilarious afterward with the way Hearn was going on about it as if Kid had just invented a cure for cancer.
We’re basically talking about Galahad being tossed a softball for him to hit it out of the park with him fighting a domestic-level fighter in Jazza Dickens instead of a talented guy.
Indeed, it’s unclear why on earth the International Boxing Federation sanctioned the Galahad vs. Jazza fight, as it was obvious from the jump that Dickens didn’t belong fighting for a world title.
Galahad should have had to fight one of these guys for the vacant IBF 126-lb strap:
- Eduardo Ramirez
- Mark Magsayo
- Jessie Magdaleno
- Rey Vargas
- Isaac Dogboe
- Mauricio Lara
- Josh Warrington
It was troubling to see Galahad facing such a weak opponent to win his IBF featherweight belt. Heck, the International Boxing Federation might as well have given their 126-lb belt to Galahad instead of having to go through the tedious formality of being the stuffing out of the hapless Jazza Dickens. What a truly awful fight that was.
Eddie not showing interested in Russell vs. Galahad
Also, Hearn seems dismissive of WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr as a potential opponent for newly
“Gary Russell is very awkward as well, but I don’t think he’s boxed since 1942,” Hearn continued.
“When is he going to fight again? So, I don’t know. Also, you got Leigh Wood here; he just beat [WBA ‘regular’ featherweight champion] Can Xu.
“That’s a big domestic-level fight. You got [Josh] Warrington against [Maurcio] Lara coming up, which is a massive fight as well. That division in the UK and also worldwide is fantastic right now. We wait to see what Leo Santa Cruz does as well,” said Hearn.