Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn chats it up with boxing media about this weekend’s PPV main event between Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia, and some other topics including Haney’s potential future at 147 and his past offer to Gervonta Davis to fight Conor Benn. Check out some excerpts of what Hearn had to say below.
Hearn on the buildup to this fight and what’s about to take place
“That’s the beauty of the sport, that you are exposed in front of the world in the most brutal capacity. And that’s what will happen here, Saturday night. It all gets real. The social media, the rubbish, the screaming, the shouting — you’re about to go into war with another man and you will be exposed on Saturday night if you are not ready.”
On if he would be concerned about Garcia’s behavior heading into this fight
“A lot of people ask me this, ‘would you pull him out of the fight?’ We don’t know. We have not had conversations with him. You guys haven’t seen him in the gym. But you’ve got good people around him like Derrick James, like his family, like Golden Boy, where you would hope those guys respect the sport enough to pull him out if you don’t think he’s ready. So I think he’s ready. I actually think it’s going to be a very dangerous fight.”
On the offer he made to Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis to fight Conor Benn
“The answer is I offered Tank Davis $10M guaranteed plus upside on the gate and PPV. So probably somewhere between $15-20M to fight Conor Benn. He didn’t want to do it, fair enough. I worry about the Devin Haney vs Tank fight because there’s no way Devin Haney would fight under 140-pounds. So Tank would have to be up at 140…I actually see Devin Haney moving up to 147 eventually.
“…in time I see him moving to ‘47. Who’s to say, in time, Devin Haney against Boots. That’s a fantastic matchup, in time. But I would like to see Devin unify or attempt to unify at 140 before he moves to 147.”