Leonard Ellerbe has given shock praise to bitter promotional rival Eddie Hearn after he announced a stellar card for August 3 in Los Angeles headlined by Terence Crawford vs Israil Madrimov.
Hearn and Ellerbe have been embroiled in a long-standing war of words, with the Mayweather Promotions CEO critical of the Brit ever since he entered the US market in 2018 with his Matchroom USA venture.
On Monday, Hearn announced Crawford vs Madrimov, an event that will be presented by His Excellency Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia and will mark the first Riyadh Season event outside of the Kingdom.
The card features several Premier Boxing Champions [PBC] fighters, whom Ellerbe works closely with, including Andy Ruiz Jr, who faces Jarrell Miller and Isaac Cruz who meets Jose Valenzuela.
Despite years of back-and-forth, Ellerbe has commended the Matchroom chairman for his involvement in putting on this card.
“You’ve got to give Hearn credit too,” Ellerbe told FightHype.com.
“Again, I’m not a hater.
“That’s one thing I’m not.
“A lot of people take things the wrong way, because you know, I’m critical of certain things, I call things as I see it.
“I give credit where credit is due.
“Good job with putting all of this together.
Working with PBC (Al Haymon). Exciting news on the way.🥊🔥🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/ESKAdrwPlx
— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) April 20, 2024
“You’ve got to give Luis De Cubas credit too and the other promoters who were involved with help putting it together.
“It’s an enormous card and you would actually have to be a hater to not like it.
“It’s great for boxing and I’m excited for it.”
Earlier this month, Hearn announced the signing of IBF welterweight world champion, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis to his Matchroom stable, reportedly on a three-fight deal.
Ennis, regarded as one of the most gifted American fighers, had several buts under the PBC banner, but was never signed to the entity and is set to make the first defence of his title against mandatory challenger Cody Crowley in July.
Ellerbe has praised the move, but believes Hearn has a lot of work to do to build the Philadelphia man into a star.
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“Yeah that was good, I like that,” he said.
“Again I’m not a hater.
“Boots is a terrific fighter, but Hearn knows that based upon his experience here in the United States that it’s not easy just taking a guy, no matter how talented he is and turning him into an attraction slash star.
“He’s got his work cut out for him, but again it’s better to have that kind of quality of fighter, I call him a generational talent in my opinion.
“So, how can you f*** that up?
“But again it’s not easy and you really, really have to understand what you’re doing.
“Things are different in the United States than they are internationally.”
