Not anyone can do that. You cannot just grab someone from the sidewalk and tell them, "Hey, come with me. You are going to help promote the biggest women's boxing match of all time that's on Saturday, live and exclusively on DAZN at the iconic Madison Square Garden between undisputed women's lightweight champion Katie Taylor and seven-division world champion and current unified featherweight titlist Amanda Serrano." It's impossible. It takes someone who is driven to see women's boxing succeed, but also someone who has a passion unlike any other and someone who wants to be remembered as the greatest promoter, not only in boxing history, but also in all of combat sports.
Enter Eddie Hearn, the chairman of Matchroom Boxing, and the promoter of Taylor.
Seventy-two hours before Taylor and Serrano make the ringwalk at "The World's Most Famous Arena," Hearn was kind enough to allow DAZN to follow him around and give us a peek behind the curtain of what a day in the life is like promoting Saturday's historic moment for boxing.
With a coffee in tow, Hearn strolls down the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel to start the day and is excited to continue spreading the word about why people need to be watching Taylor vs. Serrano.
Hearn began the day in the hotel at 9:45 a.m. ET with two interviews with reporters who are in town for the fight followed by a Zoom media call with select journalists. You could see the happiness in the 42-year-old's eyes about how this contest has taken on a life of its own.
"Every part of this promotion has been surprising," Hearn said to his first interviewer. "The first surprise was when we sat down in Madison Square Garden. And the management, James Dolan said, 'We have to get this fight.' That was nice. Then they said, we have to put it in the big arena. I was like, 'OK.' I knew we could go to Hulu (Theatre) and sell it out in a day.
"I'm known for being aggressive. But at the same time, I'm quietly conservative to make sure that we make the right business decisions. They were so not only confident but this feeling of we need to make this a significant moment for sport. We went on sale. Fastest presale I think outside of Gennadiy Golovkin (vs. David Lemieux in October 2015). Then just every moment since then, like all the media accreditation. The different outlets that have been focusing on this event. More than some 'AJ' (Anthony Joshua) fights. It's different media of guys. You've got your standard media. But it's Bloomberg, CNN, The Today Show.
"It's amazing. I can't get fighters (on those shows). It's all these different mediums, attention. Plus, there's a real feeling of support within not just within the industry, but within sport, politics, entertainment, everything that people are say(ing), 'You know what, we like this. This has got a great feeling to it.' And we're only at Wednesday."
We leave the hotel and walk to the media workout at Madison Square Garden. As soon as Hearn enters, he starts talking with the media in attendance. Taylor is the last one to work out. After she does, she is greeted by Hearn and they have a short talk. DAZN PR tries to wisk him away but a throng of Irish media stop for a scrum before Hearn scurries out of MSG to hop into a luxury black Cadillac Escalade and off to 'The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani,' who is doing some work for DAZN in the lead-up to Taylor-Serrano.
At this point, Hearn is a little more than halfway through the day and has only had two cups of coffee, a bottle of water and a snack as we leave The MMA Hour and head to the Barstool Sports building, where the English promoter will do the 'Pardon My Take' podcast.
During the podcast, Hearn is asked about Taylor-Serrano, next weekend's fight between Canelo Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol (also on DAZN). But the highlight is when Hearn's asked about legendary promoter Bob Arum by hosts, Dan "Big Cat" Katz and PFT Commenter. Hearn plays along and has some fun of a possible clash with Arum.
"Bob Arum, you 90-year-old guy, I’ll bash you up!'," Hearn said.
On his way there, Hearn does another interview that lasts about 15 minutes. You can tell after the call that Hearn is getting tired. But as soon as the vehicle stops at McSorley's Old Ale House, which was established in 1854, Hearn hops right out like it is early in the morning and is roaring to go.
Once the camera is setup for the interview, a large quantity of Irish beer and snacks are placed on a table. Shooting begins, and a great conversation is had between the two with Hearn talking about the entire card and a variety of topics.
As we are driving back to the hotel, Hearn tells DAZN after that last call, he's going to grab a bite to eat, have a barber come to his room to give him a trim, and then go to bed at around 9 p.m. He'll wake up at around 6 a.m. the next day, go for a jog and get right back on the horse for another day on Thursday of doing what he does better than anyone in boxing to make sure the world is watching Taylor vs. Serrano, and that's promote.