Roy Jones warns Eddie Hearn could lose the boxing war

The Matchroom promoter may have weakened his position

Eddie Hearn may have negotiated the desired location for Anthony Joshua’s bout with Tyson Fury, but former boxer Roy Jones Jr. believes that the Matchroom promoter has thereby weakened his position vis-à-vis the influential forces in the boxing world.

Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury had initially agreed on November 20 at Madison Square Garden. However, Hearn rejected this because Anthony Joshua’s contract required the fight to take place in the UK. While Hearn would have scored a hit with British fans there, the start time could have been set for 2 a.m., which would naturally have significantly diminished the home-field advantage.

While Jones praised Hearn for withstanding pressure from all sides, he warned of the potential consequences for Matchroom.

“Hearn has won a battle, but he’s gonna lose the war. I just think it’s because Turki has enough money to do whatever he wants to do, and whoever has his ear is gonna win the war, because he’s got the money to keep it going. But my hat goes off to Eddie for fighting, because Eddie knows that war is not the best thing for boxing”

he said.

The question is whether the younger boxers under contract with Matchroom—like Jaron Ennis or Diego Pacheco, will still have all the resources they need to put on major events. It’s possible that Hearn has now lost that support. If the fight in the UK goes ahead, it could be very interesting to see what the future holds for Hearn. What do you think?

I can imagine there will be consequences, though not as extreme as described. I don’t think he’ll suddenly lack all financial resources and be unable to support his young boxers properly anymore. But maybe that’s just because I simply don’t want it to be true. What do you think?