Hearn says fans want to see ‘Money’ take on Pacquiao, not Maidana.
Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has criticised Floyd Mayweather ahead of his fight with Marcos Maidana on Saturday, while he also thinks Amir Khan could struggle.
Hearn was speaking in his Daily Mail column, and believes that the fight fans in America are disinterested in this weekend’s bout and Mayweather is to blame.
The 37-year-old will take on Marcos Maidana in a welterweight unification fight, but Hearn believes that the fight that everyone really wants to see is the undefeated champion take on Manny Pacquiao.
Although Mayweather is expected to make a guaranteed minimum purse of $32m, money shouldn’t always be the motivation according to Hearn, who insists that fight week has been flat this time round.
“When the big fights don’t happen the public lose faith. That is happening with Floyd Mayweather,” he wrote.
“He is the king of the ring and the king of making money. But fight week seems particularly flat and I’m hearing from my people in America that there is not the buzz or even much interest in his fight with Marcos Maidana.
“He should be fighting Manny Pacquiao. That fight is credible again after he beat Timothy Bradley and it is ridiculous that they are not facing each other.”
While Hearn predicted a comfortable win for the American superstar, he believes that Khan could be in trouble when he takes on Collazo.
The Bolton-born fighter has been out of action for some time after a fight with Mayweather failed to materialise last year, and Hearn thinks that this could be a very tricky return to the ring given the longevity of his inactivity.
“Amir Khan is also fighting against Luis Collazo this weekend and I think there could be trouble. It’s likely that he has been promised internally that this will be a springboard to Mayweather, but I worry about Khan here. I always worry about him at elite level and this fight especially.
“Collazo is not the greatest in this division, but he is long in the tooth, a southpaw, dangerous and active. Khan is not active – he has not fought in a year and has fought only twice since summer 2012. I can’t see how you go into a fight like this after such an absence. It’s a massive risk.”
It remains to be seen whether or not Hearn’s predictions come true, but there will undoubtedly be a significant number of fight fans who share his belief that the likes of Mayweather and Pacquiao owe it to them to make their fight happen before they call time on their careers.
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