Promoter Eddie Hearn was pleased with himself for riling up Artur Beterbiev during the final press conference for his fight tonight against Dmitry Bivol in Riyadh.
Hearn was pushing Beterbiev’s buttons, calling him “arrogant,” and bragging about how Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) would beat him in their undisputed light heavyweight championship in Riyadh. Of course, this could backfire on Hearn.
By angering IBF, WBC, and WBO champion Beterbiev, Hearn has been motivated to thrash Bivol even more than he had before, which could result in a knockout tonight. Promoters usually don’t go out of their way to annoy Beterbiev because it’s not a good thing to give him even more reasons to destroy their fighters.
The beterbiev-Bivol fight is tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Their headliner starts at 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
“It’s my job, and if you look at the numbers, that clip did. Even Artur Beterbiev should be dying to me, ‘Thanks for that,’” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing News, discussing how he riled up unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev during the final press conference, calling him “arrogant” and riding him about how his fighter, Dmitry Bivol will defeat him. “He’s not bothered because he doesn’t care about his profile.
The hard work of getting Beterbiev upset shouldn’t have fallen on Hearn’s shoulders if Bivol had spoken up, but he’s sounded like a broken record for weeks, stuck on dull. Hearn should have been giving Bivol talking points for his interviews and press conferences to get something fresh out of him. He’s been completely useless for the promotion.
“You see what I did with Terence [Crawford] as well. It’s the same kind of thing,” said Hearn. “These guys have great personalities, but it’s the promoter’s job to get that personality out of them and showcase that personality to the world, and Artur spoke more yesterday in that press conference, probably in his last six fights combined, and he was funny, he was really funny.”
Hearn didn’t get much out of Crawford in promoting his fight against Israil Madrimov on August 3rd. Hearn did most of the marketing for that fight. To get more of these fighters, Hearn needs to give them flashcards with different discussion items to hit on and then get some acting out.
They need to bring some drama to their interviews and press conferences. They’re supposed to be selling themselves, and they can’t do without cue cards and acting ability. Even the great actor Marlon Brando would read cue cards during his movies rather than learning his lines.
“I think sometimes when I’m having backwards and forwards with fighters, obviously you have different sort of scared levels. He’s definitely one right up there…I’m not here to make friends,” said Hearn about Beterbiev.
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