Eddie Hearn has been one of the biggest promoters in the world for over a decade.
After following in the footsteps of his father Barry Hearn, Eddie took over the Matchroom Boxing brand and has promoted a number of massive names over the last 10 years, including Anthony Joshua, Carl Froch and Canelo Alvarez.
While there have been many highs on fight night, Hearn has also had to endure his fair share of lows, and he has now revealed what he deems to be his worst ever moment in boxing.
Speaking to Ring Champs With Ak & Barak, Hearn said a certain fighter leaving the Matchroom brand is what stings the most.
“A fighter leaving. Not many have, but I would say probably, and it wasn’t his fault, but Carl Frampton. We built Carl Frampton. Barry McGuigan was his manager but they never wanted us to get close to Frampton.
“We did such a good job of building him. We did a European title fight with Kiko Martinez and sold 8000 tickets. We saw this kid is a star in Ireland and he can really fight. I just remember grtting on a call with their team the next day and I said ‘what a night.’ … They said everything had to change now.”
Matchroom and Hearn guided Frampton’s career for a number of years before he departed in favour of his relationship with Barry McGuigan’s Cyclone Promotions, who was also his manager at the time. The split was due to Hearn looking to be the Frampton’s sole promoter rather than sharing duties with Cyclone.
Frampton would go on to become a two-weight world champion, claiming wins over the likes of Leo Santa Cruz and Scott Quigg and work with promoters Frank Warren, Bob Arum, as well as Hearn again. A bitter fallout that ended with a legal battle saw his working relationship with McGuigan come to an end.
