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One of the last things Eddie Hearn would’ve wanted was for a talented, undefeated fighter in whom his company and corporate partner have invested substantial time and money to leave for competitors.
Hearn understands, however, that Haney had to do what was best for his career in the short term by entering a multi-fight agreement with two of his promotional rivals, Lou DiBella and Bob Arum. The British promoter also recognizes that DiBella did what was best for his company and Kambosos by partnering with Arum and ESPN over DAZN, the streaming service that funds Hearn’s budget for cards in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Ultimately, DiBella and DAZN disagreed over television/streaming rights in Kambosos’ native Australia and whether a Kambosos-Haney rematch, which will take place only if Haney wins June 5 at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, should be held in Australia or the U.S., Haney’s home country.
The deal DiBella, who promotes Kambosos, offered DAZN required an immediate rematch in Australia if Haney wins. It also allowed for a pay-per-view distributor in Australia, where DAZN wanted to stream the fight to service one of its important target markets.
Neither of DiBella’s stipulations would’ve negatively impacted Haney’s compensation if DAZN streamed one or two bouts between Sydney’s Kambosos (20-0, 10 KOs) and Las Vegas’ Haney (27-0, 15 KOs). Hearn didn’t directly negotiate with DiBella, but he offered his take on how talks between DiBella and DAZN unfolded into the weekend during his weekly appearance on “The DAZN Boxing Show” on Monday.
“DAZN were unable to reach a deal with Lou DiBella, George Kambosos’ promoter, to air the fight,” Hearn told co-hosts Akin Reyes and Barak Bess. “It’s really a question for them as well. I believe one of the issues was that the Australian rights weren’t available for the fight, either, and that changed the structure of the deal quite a bit. There were still conversations ongoing, but I think Lou DiBella, obviously it was more beneficial for him in some way to do the deal with ESPN.
“And the deal, as I understand it, had already been done with [Vasiliy] Lomachenko, actually. So, the financial deal and the elements were all in place for them to do that. So, you know, Lou DiBella, as I said, didn’t wanna do that deal with DAZN and the deal changed for them.”
Neither Hearn nor DAZN had contractual ties to Haney, whose past six fights have been promoted by Matchroom Boxing and streamed by DAZN. Hearn obviously wanted to continue working with the unbeaten WBC world lightweight champion, yet he understands why DAZN ultimately didn’t come to an agreement with DiBella.
“I’ve had a few people say to me, ‘Oh, why didn’t DAZN [do the deal]?,’ ” Hearn said. “Because at the end of the day, it has to be economical for everybody. And I guess they didn’t feel that the fight was as big in America and wanted that global value as well, as a global platform. So, it’s one for DAZN in terms of the ins and outs. But the basics are that a deal couldn’t be reached with Lou DiBella and DAZN to air the fight. And obviously, that took away the opportunity for Devin to do the fight on DAZN. And the only option for him was to do the fight on ESPN.”
Las Vegas’ Haney is contractually obligated to box Kambosos in an immediate rematch if he wins the IBF, WBA and WBO lightweight titles from him in a fight ESPN will air the night of June 4 in the United States. If he beats Kambosos and decides to move up from the 135-pound limit, a distinct possibility, ESPN, Arum and DiBella still have contractual options on his subsequent two fights in the 140-pound division.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.