EDDIE HEARN was snubbed by Sky Sports at his last show with the broadcasters over his move to rivals DAZN.
After almost a decade as their exclusive boxing promoter, bringing through superstars like Anthony Joshua and Katie Taylor, the Matchroom boss has taken his stable to the streaming app in a five-year, £100million move.
A 1000-fan card in Newcastle on Saturday was the sign-off but, at the end of the broadcast, there was no slot with Hearn and no package or montage of their most iconic moments.
Presenters Adam Smith and Johnny Nelson paid tribute to Hearn’s work but the Essex fight mogul confirmed he was blanked by the producers who are watching him take talent away from their channels.
At the launch of his three-week summer Fight Camp, when asked why he didn’t feature on his last ever Sky show, Hearn confirmed: “I wasn’t asked to.
“I think, at senior and executive level at Sky, our departure was met with understanding because they are aware of the size of the deal and the opportunity for us globally.
“I do think, at production level, there were people who probably thought, ‘We are not giving Eddie any air time on Saturday’.
“But that is alright, I never expected them to come out and glorify me when I am heading to a competitor.
“I am going to another platform to drive up their subscribers so they probably didn’t want to give me any airtime.
“They probably thought, ‘We have built Eddie up over the last 10 years and now he is off, so we will talk about our own new deal on Saturday’, which they did a lot of.
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“But it’s all fine and we thank them for the wonderful time. Without them we wouldn’t be here and vice versa.”
Hearn has already convinced rising stars like Conor Benn, Joshua Buatsi and Fabio Wardley to leave Sky and join his British boxing revolution online.
Joshua is not part of the deal but Hearn is working on getting Dillian Whyte nailed down to his new broadcasters.
He revealed: “Dillian is potentially going on our end-of-August show in America.
“We would like him to box twice this year, I think his next one might be slightly smaller than he is used to, because every other fight he is in seems to be a 50-50 war.
“We are just finalising that and we hope to announce that in the next week.”
Dillian is happy being with us and I expect to see him box twice this year on DAZN.
Eddie Hearn
When asked if Hearn and subscription service DAZN were in a direct fight with Sky offering Whyte an alternative fight, he said: “Dillian is a pay-per-view fighter with Sky so he will have that opportunity.
“But that is not what we or DAZN want.
“In all our talks Dillian is happy being with us and I expect to see him box twice this year on DAZN.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
