Boxing promoters Bob Arum and Eddie Hearn engage in a war of words

Over the last several days, two of the most famous boxing promoters, Bob Arum and Eddie Hearn, have traded harsh words through the media. 

Nothing is shocking about rival boxing promoters disliking each other, but over the last two days, Top Rank’s Bob Arum and Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn have had plenty of unkind words for one another.

Lightweights Vasiliy Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez do battle on Saturday, Oct. 17, on ESPN. It’s one of the most anticipated boxing matchups of the year, but Top Rank had difficulty securing a European broadcaster.

During the Oct. 6 media call for Lomachenko, Arum commented on Sky Sports and Hearn and implied their conduct was greedy and unfair to fans, especially during the pandemic.

“Any fight that Eddie Hearn does, whether it’s a major fight or a minor fight, they put on pay-per-view because Sky Sports is only interested in a money grab,” said Arum. “Soak the boxing fans for whatever they can.

“These networks need to understand how people are hurting. People in this country and in the U. K. are out of work because of this pandemic. It’s really immoral to require people to spend money watching their favorite sport every week, every other week. What Sky Sports is doing in the U.K. is an absolute disgrace. I don’t care if they never buy another fight from me. What they’re doing now is a disgrace.”

Arum didn’t hold anything back and let his true feelings be told. Hearn is also a dominant personality and had plenty to say in response to Arum the following day.

Bob Arum and Eddie Hearn took their shots at one another. Who’s in the right?

Hearn did numerous interviews in rebuttal to Arum while in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19. His strongest response to Arum came while talking to iFL TV.

“Bob says whatever suits Bob at the time,” said Hearn to iFL.  “Bob’s sulking because he couldn’t find a customer. That’s basically what happened. On the one hand, Bob says Sky does too many pay-per-views, and blah, blah, blah, and he pitched to Sky, Terence Crawford vs. Kell Brook on pay-per-view. So on one hand, he’s accusing these people of doing too many pay-per-views, but on the other hand, he’s trying to sell them a pay-per-view. I don’t really understand that. So I rejected that fight, and he was pissed off.”

From Hearn’s perspective, Arum is disgruntled that he couldn’t make a deal with Sky Sports on two fights, including Lomachenko vs. Lopez. Hearn also said he made Arum and offer for Lomachenko vs. Lopez to appear on Sky Sports, but Arum “didn’t think it was a very good offer.”

Hearn admitted that Lomachenko vs. Lopez is a great fight, but it’s not that marketable in the U.K. because it would air at 4 a.m. BST. He’s got a point there.

Who’s in the right, Arum or Hearn? It all depends on your perspective, but the theater of drama between Arum and Hearn makes for good promotion and further hypes Lomachenko vs. Lopez, although it doesn’t need it. Lomachenko vs. Lopez is one of the best matchups of 2020.