EDDIE HEARN is ready to take his grandstand UK shows overseas to beat the coronavirus lockdown.
The Matchroom kingpin has lost hundreds of thousands of pounds since the British Boxing Board of Control put a stop to bouts for the sake of fans and fighters.
Hearn is determined to get fights for Joshua (left) and Chisora (right) off the ground
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And the backlog of top-level clashes is growing by the day, with pay-per-view showdowns featuring British box-office stars like Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora postponed.
Whyte, the WBC’s No1 challenger, should have faced Alexander Povetkin on May 2 in Manchester, Chisora vs Oleksandr Usyk at the O2 on May 23 and AJ vs Kubrat Pulev was booked for Tottenham’s new ground on June 20.
All three clashes would be welcome in America or Saudi Arabia, which hosted Joshua’s December rematch win over Andy Ruiz Jr, if they get their pandemic under control before the UK.
And Hearn, while adhering strictly to the Government and BBBofC orders, is open to taking his shows on the road if a safe solution is found.
He said: “I was due to have a show in Saudi Arabia in the first week of July, that is unlikely now.
“I do think everywhere will be different, I don’t think all the global governments are going to get together and say something like: ‘From July 1, sport worldwide is allowed’.
We need to put these fights on somewhere, whether they are British title fights, our prospects, world title fights of PPV fights.”
Eddie Hearn
“Some sports will start a lot sooner, in some countries, than others and Saudi could be one of the countries that gets on top of it sooner.
“We need to put these fights on somewhere, whether they are British title fights, our prospects, world title fights of pay-per-view fights.
“Ideally we would want them where we scheduled them but I also would not rule out the bigger fights going international.”
Hearn hosted the Chisora vs Usyk press conference on March 13 and was initially super-eager to reschedule shows across the country.
However, since the seriousness of COVID-19 has increased, the father-of-two has kept his plotting for a huge boxing comeback private, for the sake of the strained NHS.
He said: “Boxing is dangerous, you need to have access to doctors, you need to be able to take people to hospital for emergency treatment.
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“And, right now, that would be too selfish because the NHS have enough on their plate, without fighters coming in.
“Right now, do people really want to see people punching each other in the face? We don’t think people want to see people getting hurt, at the minute.
“Hopefully people will love and appreciate the art of boxing very soon, but right now it just does not seem right.”
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Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
