Eddie Hearn believes that there will be increased pressure to provide more big fights for broadcasters and spectators.
The Matchroom promoter suggested he would even start getting rid of fighters who do not provide value for money, or who are reticent to take fights offered to them.
“You will probably see us letting fighters go or not renewing contracts,” Hearn told DAZN’s 'Boxing with Chris Mannix'.
“Because one, they’re too expensive and not delivering the value and two, they won’t take the fights we want them to take.”
Hearn explained that it was not through want of trying on his part that fights were not made.
“Demetrius Andrade is a great example of that. I’ve lost count of the amounts we’ve offered to people that we just can’t do,” he said.
“I reached out to Luis De Cubas and said, ‘Let’s do the Charlo fight. We can do it on Fox. It won’t even be expensive for you. It might even be the same kind of money you just paid [Sergiy] Derevyanchenko.'
“This is a great fight, but who’d want to fight Demetrius Andrade? He’s really good and he’ll probably beat Charlo.”
He admitted that in the past he had been reluctant to make certain fights he believed would not suit his clients.
“I’ve been guilty of it. Sometimes you don’t want to take a certain kind of fight for a fighter. This is the historic match-making process of boxing, but it’s got to come down to us, to the managers, and the broadcasters.”
Hearn pointed to Teofimo Lopez Jr. as a boxer who has transformed a division and who did not look for an immediate payday, and instead concentrated on building his career. Hearn had already noticed Lopez but was surprised at his rapid ascent.
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“I thought this kid could be a real star,” he commented.
“You want to give him two or three fights, build that profile, then make a monstrous event with [Vasiliy] Lomachenko. And when they said they’d go straight into a Lomachenko fight, I said, 'That’s just talk, surely.’
“But he believed in himself and went and did it.”
“He took tiny money for the fight because he believed he could win. And I didn’t think he’d win a round. How wrong was I?
“He’s a bad man, he’s become one of the biggest stars in boxing. Looking at that division. Devin Haney, Tank [Gervonta Davis], Teofimo, Ryan Garcia, Luke Campbell. It’s fantastic.”
While he expects to trim his roster, one boxer set to stay on is Devin Haney, and Hearn cites him as an example of a new attitude in younger fighters.
“Devin Haney, when I said, ‘Which way are we going to go?’ He said, ‘I want Lomachenko. I want the WBC.’
“This is what this new era of fighters are made of. I don’t think there’s one fight that Devin Haney would turn down. They want Teofimo, they want Mikey Garcia, they want the winner of [Ryan] Garcia and Luke Campbell.
“I think the prospects of 2021 are really good, especially in that division.”
Watch the full episode of Hearn on 'Boxing with Chris Mannix' on DAZN.