"Thankfully , I don't have to justify prices" - Eddie Hearn gives his thoughts on the £26.95 price tag for Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksander Usyk II
Eddie Hearn has revealed his opinion on the £26.95 price for the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksander Usyk rematch. Hearn is the promoter of the fight.
In an interview with iFL TV, Hearn said:
“Thankfully, I'm not on that side of the fence anymore where I have to justify prices. We all know it’s a very competitive market right now, Sky have made a play for this fight one, because it’s a very big fight, two, for business reasons and strategy reasons as well. You know sometimes when that happens you have to overpay for something. There has to be a way to make that money back. Obviously, I can't comment because I am not involved in that process, I don’t represent Sky but they have to make the numbers add up and that’s charging more money to the consumer.”
Watch the full interview here:
Significantly, Anthony Joshua recently revealed that he signed a long-term deal with Eddie Hearn and DAZN. The deal stipulated that all of Joshua’s future fights would be on DAZN, but did not include his rematch with Oleksander Usyk.
As such, both Sky Sports and DAZN had the opportunity to broadcast the bout. Hearn believes that due to the price that Sky had to pay in order to secure the fight, charging the price they have makes sense.
Eddie Hearn has been criticized for PPV prices in the past
Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing formerly had an exclusive deal with Sky Sports. As part of their deal, Hearn had to produce a set amount of PPV shows for the broadcaster:
“It’s £2m, it’s a big fight, obviously £19.95 has always been the regular pay-per-view price, $24.95 was an AJ PPV price and that’s now increased to £26.95... Its quite weird for me, I've spent years seeing the response and feeling the response and having to justify the decision behind stuff. I was very much the guy in front of the camera that was having to justify things. It is quite nice not having to justify things all the time anymore.”
When Eddie Hearn and Sky Sports priced the first fight between Usyk and Joshua at £24.95, fans were enraged. A similar fan response has existed for the rematch, which has only increased in price.
@chrisrobwill Disgusting. Jumped up about a tenner from as little as 4/5 years ago. £27 will be the bar now. DAZN will prob go down to about £24/25 for Joshua’s first PPV when he starts with them, make out they’re doing us a turn.
Hearn would also receive criticism for the caliber of PPV fights during his time at Sky. Some of the most controversial were Frankie Gavin vs. Kell Brook and Tony Bellew vs. Nathan Cleverly. Many fans believed that the fights were not worthy of the PPV tag.