By Charles Brun: Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn sounded like a politician, putting a positive spin on Canelo Alvarez leaving DAZN for PBC, who inked a three-fight deal that will likely tie him down until the end of 2024.
Looking at the bright side of Canelo leaving DAZN, Hearn said it now frees up money from the budget that can be spent on making big fights happen.
Sadly, there are NO big fights that Hearn can put together with his current Matchroom stable. In hindsight, he should have kept Devin Haney because he would have been someone that he could have used to match against Ryan Garcia or Gervontay Davis, using the money from Canelo leaving DAZN. That was a mistake letting Haney walk.
With the money DAZN was previously paying Canelo now freed up, Hearn will presumably pour it into making fights for these fighters:
- Regis Prograis
- Edgar Berlanga
- Sunny Edwards
- Dmitry Bivol
“DAZN was spending a huge amount of money on Canelo Alvarez that now sits floating, gives us the potential to go and make some megafights back end of the year,” said Eddie Hearn to the media, making it sound like a good thing that Canelo has left DAZN to sign a three-fight deal with PBC.
“We’re not going to be replacing one night, we’re going to be replacing multiple nights and bringing those big names to the platform with the money they would’ve previously spent on one night with Canelo Alvarez. So in that respect, I’m excited,” Hearn said.
U.S. fans don’t care about IBF flyweight champion Sunny Edwards, so it would be pointless for Hearn to put money into his next fight.
WBC light welterweight champion Regis Prograis looked like a shot fighter in his debut with Matchroom against Danielito Zorrilla. The counters in the divisions are like wolves, seeing the vulnerability of Prograis and wanting to pick him off. They can spot an old lamb that is ready to be finished off, and they’re circling.
They see that the 34-year-old Prograis is old, lame, gunshy, and not the fighter he was four years ago. Hearn’s idea of matching Prograis against Jack Catterall won’t interest American boxing fans.
Hearn would be better to use the money to lure Devin Haney, Richardson Hitchins, or Arnold Barboza Jr to take the fight with Prograis. Then when Prograis loses, we’ll have a talented fighter holding the WBC 140-lb belt, a guy that boxing fans can get excited about.
It would be a mistake for Hearn to use the Canelo money on Prograis because it’s a bad investment.
In an interview yesterday, WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol (21-0, 11 KOs) said he has one fight left on his contract with Matchroom.
If Bivol doesn’t re-up with Hearn, his last fight with them will be in October, and that’s likely to be a simple title defense. Bivol WON’T be fighting Canelo or IBF, WBC & WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev in October.
If Hearn is going to use some of the money freed up from Canelo leaving DAZN on Bivol’s next fight, he’s going to have to be inventive. The DAZN subscribers aren’t going to be excited at seeing Bivol fight 36-year-old former WBC 175-lb champion Oleksandr Gvozyk, a fighter that recently made a comeback after four years out of the ring.
Hearn was short on details about those big fights because fans are not eager to see Edgar Berlanga, who many view as a hype job. We saw last weekend that Berlanga lacks the talent to keep winning unless he’s carefully matched, and he’s NOT the replacement for Canelo that Hearn hopes he will be.
