Promoter Eddie Hearn was underwhelmed by the inaugural Premier Boxing Champions on Amazon Prime Video card.
Last week PBC announced its first show under the e-commerce giant featuring Keith Thurman against Tim Tszyu in the main event on pay-per-view on March 30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The show will also feature Rolando Romero in a defense of his 140-pound title against Isaac Cruz, middleweight titlist Erislandy Lara against Michael Zerafa, and Sebastien Fundora and Serhii Bohachuk in a junior middleweight fight.
PBC entered into a new rights deal with Amazon after its longtime platform, Showtime, shuttered its entire sports division last month.
In a recent interview, Hearn, the head of Matchroom, a rival of PBC, expressed some dismay with the headliner.
“It reminded me of, you know when you want to do a pay-per-view but you don’t really have got a headliner at this stage and just stick a load of stuff together that sort of gets it over the line,” Hearn told iFL TV.
“I’ve done it many times,” Hearn admitted. “I did it when Kell Brook boxed Frankie Gavin, Kevin Mitchell boxed [Jorge] Linares, Lee Selby boxed Gradovich—and actually [Anthony] Joshua was on that card— and it was a good night.”
“It’s a good card,” Hearn continued. “I’m not slagging it off, but I feel like within the current market you need a big flagship main event to draw these numbers. And obviously Tim Tszyu is a great fighter but he’s quite unknown in America against Keith Thurman who hasn’t boxed in two years is not the one. But it’s still a good night of boxing.”
Thurman will be fighting at the 154-pound limit for the first time against Tszyu, a titleholder in the division. However, Tszyu’s WBO title will not be on the line.
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.