Eddie Hearn has questioned the decision to place Tim Tszyu against Kieth Thurman on a pay-per-view platform.
Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions kick off their new partnership with Amazon Prime on March 30 in Las Vegas, with current WBO super welterweight champion taking on former welterweight titlist, Thurman in a non-title bout at the T-Mobile Arena.
PBC, who were forced to find a new broadcaster after SHOWTIME exited the sport in December, have placed their first card on Amazon behind a paywall, with Rolando Romero also in action on the undercard against Isaac Cruz.
Hearn, whose company Matchroom Boxing has an exclusive deal with streaming service, DAZN revealed his surprise at Australian native Tszyu, who has fought once in the USA, headlining a pay-per-view bill against Thurman, who is coming off a two-year lay-off since beating Mario Barrios.
“It feels a little bit like throw a load of stuff together,” Hearn told Fight Hub TV.
Premier Boxing Champions
“I’ve done it before. When you’ve got a date and you haven’t quite got a main event, so you want to make a load of fights for a card.
“Still it’s a good night of boxing.
“The problem is, when you do a pay-per-view card, you need a flagship main event and Tim Tszyu, who I really like by the way, I think it’s really exciting, against Thurman is not it.
“I would like to have seen another fight. I don’t feel like Thurman, who hasn’t boxed for two years should be fighting a world champion at 154lbs.
“But also it’s quite strange to go with Tim Tszyu, who hasn’t really got the profile in America to headline a pay-per-view card.”
Neither Premier Boxing Champions or Amazon announced a pay-per-view price after confirming their inaugural card earlier this week.
Hearn maintains that Haymon has formulated a solid card, but admits he’s uncertain on how well it will perform on pay-per-view.
“I feel like the pay-per-view market is so difficult right now,” he added.
“You’ve just got to be careful with the product.
Real fight news!!! I am back in Vegas on March 30th vs Tim Tszyu on Amazon Prime PPV. The wait is over, it’s a new year with the same dream! I just want to be great. #Greatness #OneTime #PrimePPV #ThurmanTszyu pic.twitter.com/e7Jam4OTcJ
— Keith Thurman Jr. (@keithfthurmanjr) January 26, 2024
“Although I’m sure it’ll be a great night of boxing, the casual pay-per-view fan that you need to engage is not going to go, ’Tim Tszyu against Thurman, yes! Let’s get everyone round to watch that,’ as exciting as Tim is and he’s really exciting.
“But they’ve got to deliver something and it’s not like it’s rubbish, it’s not, it’s a good night of boxing.
“But, how many buys is it going to do? And that’s the problem with pay-per-view right now at the moment.
“We’ve gone from you don’t do a pay-per-view unless it does 200,000-300,000 [buys] to even if it does 50,000 buys we’re still going to do it.”
