Eddie Hearn
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Edward John Hearn (born 8 June 1979) is a British sports promoter who is chairman of
Matchroom Sport Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool (cue sports), ...
and
Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the World ...
. Hearn is the son of promoter
Barry Hearn Barry Maurice William Hearn (born 19 June 1948) is an English sporting events promoter and the founder and President of promotions company Matchroom Sport. Through Matchroom, Hearn is also involved in many sports including snooker, darts, pool ...
, the founder of Matchroom Sport.


Education

Hearn was a student at the
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...
Brentwood School, Essex , established = , type = Public SchoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , head_label = Headmaster , head = M Bond , chair_lab ...
. He failed to get into
sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...
at Brentwood School as he performed poorly on his
GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
. Hearn played cricket and football to a high standard, and his father Barry petitioned the school to let him stay on for his sporting record, but the school refused. Hearn said, "I grew up thinking I was a hard nut and in Brentwood School I was. Anywhere else I was a pansy." He then went to Havering Sixth Form College in
Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed ...
, which was not selective. Barry encouraged Hearn to study by promising him £1,000 for a C or better grade in his
A-level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
subjects, which were media studies, physical education and business studies. Hearn achieved two Cs and one A.


Boxing promoter

Matchroom Sport Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool (cue sports), ...
was founded by Eddie's father,
Barry Hearn Barry Maurice William Hearn (born 19 June 1948) is an English sporting events promoter and the founder and President of promotions company Matchroom Sport. Through Matchroom, Hearn is also involved in many sports including snooker, darts, pool ...
. After leaving education, Eddie Hearn started a career in the West End at a sports management company representing golfers, eventually moving on to promote online poker with Matchroom with the events being broadcast worldwide. In the UK, they were broadcast by
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
, Channel 5 and Sky Sports. He met
Audley Harrison Audley Hugh Harrison, (born 26 October 1971) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2013. As an amateur he represented Great Britain at the 2000 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division and be ...
at a poker game and agreed to help him rebuild his career, subsequently getting Harrison a fight with heavyweight champion
David Haye David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 2002 and 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Amate ...
for his WBA title, signalling the growth of Matchroom Boxing. In 2015, Hearn signed an exclusive televised boxing deal with UK broadcaster
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
to broadcast up to 20 shows a year. The deal was in place for 6 years and lasted until 2021. Hearn promotes and has promoted many world champions since joining Matchroom Sport, including
Anthony Joshua Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua (born 15 October 1989) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles twice between 2016 and 2021. At r ...
,
Canelo Álvarez Santos Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez Barragán (; born 18 July 1990) is a Mexican professional boxer. He has won multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in three of ...
, Gennady Golovkin,
Oleksandr Usyk Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk ( uk, Олекса́ндр Олекса́ндрович У́сик; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the unified WB ...
,
Vasyl Lomachenko Vasyl Anatoliyovych Lomachenko ( uk, Василь Анатолійович Ломаченко, ; also spelled Vasiliy; born 17 February 1988) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in three weight classes fr ...
,
Katie Taylor Katie Taylor (born 2 July 1986) is an Irish professional boxer and former footballer. She is a two-weight world champion and the current undisputed lightweight champion, having held the WBA title since 2017; the IBF title since 2018; and the ...
and
many others Many may refer to: * grammatically plural in number *an English quantifier used with count nouns indicating a large but indefinite number of; at any rate, more than a few ;Place names * Many, Moselle, a commune of the Moselle department in Franc ...
. Hearn has promoted some large events in recent times, including Carl Froch vs. George Groves II in 2014 and Anthony Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko in 2017, both of which took place at
Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
with 80,000 and 90,000 fans in attendance respectively. In May 2018, Hearn revealed boxing's first-ever $1 billion boxing deal (£750 million) as Matchroom and streaming service
DAZN DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet. The ...
signed an agreement to stream shows across the United States. At the heart of the deal, Hearn and Matchroom Boxing would stage 16 shows in America, which would be streamed exclusively on DAZN in the U.S., while 16 of his UK shows will also be shown on the platform. In 2019, Hearn agreed a deal to promote a professional boxing match between YouTube personalities
KSI Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji (born 19 June 1993), known professionally as KSI, is an English YouTuber and rapper. He is a co-founder and member of the British YouTube group known as the Sidemen. He is the CEO of Misfits Boxing and ...
and
Logan Paul Logan Alexander Paul (born April 1, 1995) is an American media personality, podcaster, actor, and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand, but is inactive due to a knee injury. He has over 23 m ...
, which took place on 9 November 2019 at the
Staples Center Crypto.com Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Adjacent to the L.A. Live development, it is located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center complex along Figueroa Street. The arena opened on October 17, 1999; it was ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. This match was heavily criticised by boxing fans across the globe; they claimed KSI and Paul were not suitable to be promoted by Hearn, due to their lack of experience. Referring to their first amateur fight which Hearn had previously declined to promote, he described it as "a really good fight and I told myself I'm doing the rematch." In the same year, Hearn came under criticism for staging
Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Anthony Joshua II, billed as Clash On The Dunes, was a heavyweight professional boxing rematch between the Mexican-American champion Andy Ruiz Jr. and British former champion Anthony Joshua, for the Unified champion, unified WB ...
in
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
, due to the country's poor human rights record. He defended the decision by stating that Saudi Arabia wanted to improve its image and that his job "is to provide the best opportunities for our fighters." In April 2021, Hearn's father stepped aside from the role of chairman to become president of the group in an advisory role, paving the way for him to become Chairman of the Matchroom Sport Group of Companies. On 8 May 2021, Hearn promoted Canelo Álvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders in front of 73,126 fans at the
AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium, is a retractable roof, retractable-roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. I ...
in
Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...
, which broke the all-time attendance record for an indoor boxing event in the United States. Later that same month, Hearn became involved in a war of words with rival promoters
Bob Arum Robert Arum (born December 8, 1931) is an American lawyer and boxing promoter. He is the founder and CEO of Top Rank, a professional boxing promotion company based in Las Vegas. Prior to becoming a boxing promoter, Arum was employed as an attorn ...
of
Top Rank Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including Muh ...
, and Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions, over the failure of a deal coming to fruition for a proposed
Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua is a proposed heavyweight professional boxing match contested between WBC champion, Tyson Fury, and former WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO champion, Anthony Joshua. The fight has been dubbed as "the biggest fight i ...
fight, accusing them of making "absolutely zero attempt to try and save the Anthony Joshua fight". On 3 June 2021, Hearn announced that he had signed a 5-year deal that meant he would be taking his entire stable of
Matchroom Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool, bowling, go ...
fighters to streaming service
DAZN DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet. The ...
, signalling the end of Matchroom's previous partnership with
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
in the UK and Ireland. As part of the deal, all Matchroom events will be shown exclusively on DAZN worldwide, and "at least 16 Matchroom UK fights
ill be ILL may refer to: * ''I Love Lucy'', a landmark American television sitcom * Illorsuit Heliport (location identifier: ILL), a heliport in Illorsuit, Greenland * Institut Laue–Langevin, an internationally financed scientific facility * Interlibrar ...
annually available exclusively to DAZN subscribers in the UK and Ireland for the first time, from July 2021 onwards".


Personal life

Hearn lives near
Billericay Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon, Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin and constitutes a commuter town east of Central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It is ...
in Essex with his wife Chloe and their two daughters. He generally has a good relationship with his fighters, and is good friends with former WBC cruiserweight champion
Tony Bellew Anthony Lewis Bellew (born 30 November 1982) is an English former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2018, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held the WBC cruiserweight title from 2016 to 2017, and challeng ...
whose career he helped turn around. In 2020, unified heavyweight champion
Anthony Joshua Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua (born 15 October 1989) is an English professional boxer. He is a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO titles twice between 2016 and 2021. At r ...
, whom Hearn has promoted since Joshua's professional debut in 2013, said that he "and Eddie will always have a great friendship." After Hearn promoted a boxing event in
Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...
in 2021, the
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
of Fresno,
Jerry Dyer Jerry P. Dyer (born May 3, 1959) is an American politician and former law enforcement officer. He is the 26th and current mayor of Fresno, California. Previously, he served as the chief of the Fresno Police Department. Life and career Dyer was bo ...
, declared 16 October to be celebrated as "Matchroom Boxing and Eddie Hearn Day".


Bibliography

*''Relentless: 12 Rounds to Success'' (2020)


References


External links


Eddie Hearn's account on InstagramEddie Hearn's account on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hearn, Eddie Living people People educated at Brentwood School, Essex British boxing promoters 1979 births