British promoters at a loss: 'We don’t know what we’re dealing with here'
For once, boxing promoters are tongue-tied.
The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the sport, forcing promoters to cancel high-profile boxing cards. In Britian, as elsewhere, the virus has left a preternaturally cutthroat group of veterans scratching their heads, wondering what’s next.
In a recent interview with the British magazine Boxing News, promoters Kalle Sauerland, Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren and Mick Hennessy described how the global pandemic has impacted their business.
Leaders in the art of fabrication, few of them could find a way to put a positive spin on the news. For once, they admit to being in a state of helplessness.
“We’re not ‘in the know’ of anything,” said Sauerland, who had to postpone the March 21 World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight final bout between Mairis Briedis and Yuniel Dorticos. (The new date has been tentatively scheduled for May 16.)
“We don’t know anything about timelines, we don’t know anything about restrictions or the different kind of restrictions, so we will continue being experts at what we do, but we will be under the guidelines of authorities, local and international.
“We have to look at the policies of different governments, but they’re not all aligned. … That makes it even more complicated, especially when when you run an international operation. So, for us, we are bound to what the experts are telling us because we’re not experts in this field. And I think any promoter giving any other advice, apart from talking about left hooks and uppercuts, should stick to their own business.”
Like Top Rank’s Bob Arum, Hearn is exploring the possibility of staging fights closed off to the public but admits that such endeavors come at a high financial cost. Hearn, who promotes shows on both sides of the Atlantic, recently had to postpone the March 28 Josh Kelly-David Avenesyan bout in London and the April 17 Regis Prograis-Maurice Hooker bout in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
“We are certainly open to events behind closed doors, but the bigger events are always dependent on the revenue generated at the box office,” Hearn said. “There are plenty of moving parts, but we are thinking on our feet to make sure our fighters are taken care of and the public safety is of course considered.”
Said Hennessy, the former promoter of Tyson Fury: “The whole situation is crazy, it’s on another level. I’ve never experienced anything as potentially devastating to boxing in all my career. There is no insurance to cover us for this. We’ve made lots of plans and payments.”
Of all the promoters it was Warren, the oldest of the group, who sounded the most distraught.
“When you think about it, our industry is in trouble,” Warren said. “The boxers don’t get a wage. Unlike footballers, they get paid when they fight. So if they don’t fight, they don’t get a wage.
“All I care about is the long-term health of the sport, and at the moment, that’s at a risk. The TV companies make money by showing sport on their channels, but they’ve got no sport to show at the moment. Those same TV companies bring a lot of money into boxing, so it’s quite challenge to say the least.
“We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”