Today’s announcement of Tim Tszyu vs. Keith Thurman fight on March 30th on Amazon Prime Video PPV has promoter Eddie Hearn critical of the headliner for the event.
Hearn has doubts that a non-title fight between Tszyu (24-0, 19 KOs), who doesn’t have a large following in the United States, and the 35-year-old Thurman (30-1, 22 KOs), a fighter who hasn’t fought in two years, is the right match-up the headline a PPV event.
Eddie doesn’t say who he feels should be in the main event on March 30th, but he clearly thinks Thurman and Tszyu lack the star power needed to attract U.S. fans to purchase the event.
If this were 2016, having Thurman on PPV would make sense, but not now. Fans haven’t seen ‘One Time’ in years, and he doesn’t possess the name recognition needed for PPV. He would be a decent undercard fighter, in the same realm as 40-year-old Erislandy Lara, who is on the March 30th card.
Hearn’s Skeptical Take
Hearn feels that boxing fans won’t purchase the March 30th event on Amazon Prime PPV without a “flagship main event” fight. He says it doesn’t work putting on a bunch of good fights if the main event isn’t one that people feel is worthy of PPV.
Thurman used to be a popular fighter many years ago, but he’s now been forgotten by fans due to his inactivity. ‘One Time’ Thurman has fought three times in the last seven years since, and younger fans don’t know who he is.
To them, Thurman is just an old, bald, middle-aged-looking guy, and that will not register with them to get them interested in purchasing the March 30th event on Amazon Prime Video PPV.
Main Event Concerns
“It feels like a little throw a load of stuff together. When you’ve got a date, and you haven’t quite got a main event, so you want to make a lot of fights for a card. It’s still a good night of boxing,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV, reacting to today’s announcement for the Tim Tszyu vs. Keith Thurman card on Amazon Prime Video PPV on March 30th.
“The problem is with a PPV card, you need a flagship main event, and Tim Tszyu, who I really like, by the way, against Thurman is not it. I would have liked to have seen another fight. I don’t feel like Thurman, who hasn’t boxed for two years, should be fighting a world champion at 154 lbs,” said Hearn.
A lot of the PBC fighters have been inactive for so long that it’s hard to find one that is popular enough to place in a main event to be counted on to bring in PPV buys.
We saw David Benavidez fail miserably on PPV for his fight against 35-year-old Demetrius Andrade last December, with it bringing in a rumored 70K buys. If someone like Benavidez can’t sell on PPV, who does PBC have that can sell? It certainly isn’t Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero or the forgotten fighter, Thurman.
PPV Viability in Question
“Also, it’s quite strange to go with Tim Tszyu, who hasn’t really got a profile in America to headline a PPV card, and Thurman’s profile in America is really not [good]. It just feels like a little bit slung together quickly,” said Hearn.
That’s a really bad idea to have Tszyu fighting on PPV in the U.S. because casual boxing fans don’t know who he is, and as I said, fans don’t know who Thurman is. The older fans know Thurman, and they’re excited to see him after all these years. He’s been out too long.
“I just feel like when you put a good card on, and it’s just botched together, it really doesn’t do the numbers. If you do a PPV, you have to have a big main event. I’ve done it. It’s never worked,” said Hearn.
