“It’s big, isn’t it?” said Eddie Hearn of the potential offered by the Australian fight scene.
“I’ve got to be honest – I walked in today and thought, ‘Fucking hell’.”
Hearn was talking at the ceremonial weigh-in for Jai Opetaia-David Nyika, attended by both public and media, at the Gold Coast Convention Centre in Queensland.
The promotion was Matchroom’s first since October 2022 in a territory they have seen the value of for even longer. Opetaia-Nyika was a co-promotion with the Australia-based Tasman Fighters, and on March 22 in Sydney they will stage George Kambosos Jnr’s first fight at 140lbs.
Liam Paro-Brock Jarvis represented the first venture of Matchroom and broadcasters DAZN into the Australian market. Before Hearn agreed co-promotional terms with Tasman Fighters for Opetaia, Justis Huni, Teremoana Jnr and Conor Wallace, their success with Paro, Skye Nicolson, Demsey McKean and others had largely come overseas.
For all of the promise of Opetaia-Nyika – a crowd of 5,000 attended their entertaining shootout – Australia’s leading fighter was fighting in his home country for the first time since July 2022 when defeating Mairis Briedis, and against an opponent from New Zealand in an extension of a rivalry that in Australia counts.
Opetaia-Nyika was also supported by the first domestic fight for the heavyweight Teremoana Jnr since before the 2024 Paris Olympics, and by the latest in the career of Justis Huni, another heavyweight of increasing appeal.
Kambosos Jnr was signed before Paro sacrificed his IBF junior-welterweight title to Richardson Hitchins in December, when Paro-Hitchins taking place in Puerto Rico reflected the fact that for all of Matchroom’s ambition in Australia, their progress has been slow.
The seemingly ever-present Hearn has had to accept that the logistical challenges presented by the distance from his base in Essex, England will forever be significant. Leading a promotion on Kambosos Jnr, whose past three fights in his home country have been high-profile defeats, will also present him with a further test.
“I get excited when I go into new markets,” he continued, to BoxingScene. “We do about six shows a year in Mexico – I love those shows, because they’re actually quite happy to see us. When we come here [to Australia], ‘Matchroom are here – amazing’. It’s actually quite a nice feeling, and it’s vibrant here.
“When you go to the UK sometimes – and even America – it’s just another show, you know what I mean? Here – obviously Saudi [Arabia] as well – Mexico. Puerto Rico’s been a lot of fun as well. We did Italy and Spain – we struggled a bit in those markets but I still had a lot of fun there. I think this has got a lot of potential.
“This global vision – you see a lot of other promoters saying, ‘We’re gonna take it global’, but I’ve been doing it for five years. This is only our second show in Australia, and now we’re going to do two shows within two-and-a-half months, with Kambosos in Sydney.
“We want to do at least four shows here a year, and I think it’s a great market. I really do. They understand their boxing. See the turnout – I think there’s a lot of potential.”
Hearn had been frustrated in his attempts to attract investment from the Australian government in a title defence for Paro against Kambosos, Devin Haney or another opponent. There had existed plans to feature Nicolson, Huni and potentially even Johnny Fisher – the English heavyweight so popular in Australia – on the same bill.
Nicolson and Fisher instead fought on undercards, in Saudi Arabia, as Opetaia and Huni have also previously done. Paro lost to Hitchins on the occasion of his first title defence.
Mick Francis of Tasman Fighters spoke two days before Opetaia-Nyika of his hopes to continue to stage the fights of the world’s leading cruiserweight in Australia. The intent and – as Hearn repeatedly insists – potential are as transparent as were those of Opetaia and Nyika while they wildly swung at each other on Wednesday evening, but it was only then that Hearn, who travelled to and from Australia within the space of four days, was truly settling on the direction that will be taken by Matchroom’s newest arm.
“He’s the number one fighter in Australia right now,” he said of the 29-year-old Opetaia. “So we need to bring him here. Obviously the money is very different, fighting here to what it is in Saudi, and that’s what they’re interested in. But he buys into this opportunity to fight here. It’s a different kind of pressure, to be fair – I don’t think it’s going to be easy.
“Sometimes – I’ve found with AJ [Anthony Joshua] as well – AJ’s best performances have been in Saudi Arabia. And then you start to think, has it got anything to do with when he fights at Wembley in front of 90,000 and he’s in London all week getting pulled around left, right and centre? It’ll be interesting to see how [Opetaia] goes here.
“The problem [with attracting investment from the Australian government] is they want time. They want a nine-month lead time, and in boxing that’s so difficult to do. A three-month lead time is difficult to do. It’s quite frustrating. I met the guys from Queensland this week. I think they are looking for massive fights, but what is a massive fight? A massive fight is like Tim Tszyu against Terence Crawford, or maybe Kambosos against Gervonta Davis.
“They want – like they did with [Devin] Haney, like they did [Vasiliy] Lomachenko. And for them, the way they measure value is incoming visitors, internationally. So sometimes an all-Aussie fight doesn’t carry the same value as bringing a big international name.
“A massive problem for Australian boxing – and that’s why you find a lot of Australian fighters migrating abroad, like the top ones… You saw Tim Tszyu eventually go over to America and train over there; Skye Nicolson left. You just can’t get sparring. The Australian boxers want to fight internationally, and train internationally, but you’ve gotta be good enough. But it really brings you on. What I’d like to do is to make it a bit more of a vibrant scene here, but the problem is bringing opponents in; bringing sparring in. It’s really difficult.
“I still think Paro against Kambosos is a big fight. Liam will be back around April time, and then see if the Kambosos fight can happen later in the year.”
Within minutes of the conclusion of the latest victories in the careers of Huni and Teremoana Jnr, Hearn – who oversaw Anthony Joshua’s ascent to the world heavyweight title – was extolling their ability to follow in Joshua’s wake. For all of their promise it remains difficult to predict with any conviction that they will be even close to as successful as Joshua, but unlike with Opetaia – who established himself as the world’s leading cruiserweight by so impressively resisting a broken jaw to defeat Breidis – they are fighters Hearn has started to work with before they have moved into contention to challenge for titles. They are projects – smaller features within a considerably wider project – and will need to consistently become main-event attractions if the combined efforts of Matchroom, Tasman Fighters and DAZN are to succeed.
“Massive,” Hearn responded when asked how valuable they are to his plans. “Massive. We don’t have a massive heavyweight stock outside of AJ. Huni is already top 15 in the world, and as far as I’m concerned, I think he’s actually got a lot of potential. But also, Teremoana’s a serious fighter – serious fighter. Give him six months, and he’ll be a massive, massive star.
“No [I don’t intend on moving him as aggressively as Matchroom moved Joshua]. Just really active. Quickly, in terms of time, but not quickly in terms of fights, ‘cause I’d like to box him seven or eight times this year. He’s 6-0 now. Once we get him to 10-0, it’s gonna start getting a bit exciting. The hardest thing will be finding him opponents. Especially for Australian shows. He’ll also box March 22nd in Sydney.
“We need [the local assistance of Francis and Tasman Fighters]. When I first came over here it was more, ‘We’re gonna come over to Australia; Matchroom Australia’, and stuff like that. In the end you need a quality partner that can do a lot of the legwork, and as you can see, Mick’s done a great job.”
Hearn is perhaps conditioned above all else to the resistance he will encounter as he attempts to further Matchroom’s expansion. Where once as an inexperienced promoter in the UK he attempted to compete with the hall-of-fame inductee Frank Warren and in the US to rival PBC, Top Rank and Golden Boy, established giants, there is the reality that the Fox Sports-backed No Limit have long been, in Australian terms, the biggest show in town. There is also the reality that regardless of Opetaia’s success and Tim Tszyu’s successive-and-damaging defeats in 2024, Tszyu – loyal to No Limit – remains Australian boxing’s biggest star.
“[Tszyu’s] also been fighting at a very high level,” said Hearn. “DAZN have just started, really. Now their [potential] acquisition of Foxtel [the owners of Fox Sport] is going to be really interesting. But Fox is a great broadcaster. But at the same time I think DAZN has got a good foothold.
“They did big numbers, particularly for Fury-Usyk as well, so they’ve got a good platform. Kambosos… we’ll just keep going.
“It’s just different [in Australia]. When you go here, there’s only four or five media outlets. When we do it in the UK, there’s fucking 30, ranging from the BBC to fucking some bloke who’s got his own YouTube channel. There’s so many Brits out here, I’ve been getting mobbed on the street. Actually, it’s quite a nice feeling. ‘Oh my God – fucking hell you’re out here? Keep going, mate.’ It kind of feels like when we first started, in England. People are really supportive, rather than just like, ‘Oh, fucking Eddie Hearn…’.”
Asked if his profile and reach on social media has been having the same impact in Australia as it long has in the UK and America, he responded: “Yeah, without a doubt. More here than the US.
“The US, I’ve built my brand. I’ve still got a long way to go, but when I first went to the US no one had any idea who I was. Then I started promoting Canelo [Saul Alvarez] – once you do that, it changed overnight.
“Everybody in boxing in Australia sees me every week. I’m not always in Australia – and that was really part of the plan of building a brand behind me.”