Eddie Hearn believes that Jake Paul may be paying for his lack of experience in the boxing business after his fight against Hasim Rahman Jr. collapsed.
Speaking to The DAZN Boxing Show, the Matchroom promoter discussed the misfortune of the fighter and promoter.
“It’s such a mess, the whole thing,” he said.
”It started with Tommy Fury. It’s Hasim Rahman, he said, she said. Booked out Madison Square Garden. It’s a circus. It’s just like, being in the ring itself, the boxing business is just not that easy. You can't just walk into the ring and become a champion, you can’t just pick up the game and the business of boxing and start executing successful live events.”
Nevertheless, Hearn was not enjoying the problems of Paul, the man he worked with to put on Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano earlier in the year.
“Jake, they’re learning, I’m sure they‘re unlucky and have been lied to. But they’ll be under more pressure from people saying ‘it wasn’t selling, the pay per view wasn't going anywhere. The kid’s not going to make weight’.
“The problem will be the reputation of future events. Are we actually going to see these events? I feel a bit for Jake, because where he’s quite unpopular with his industry, there will always be people trying to make sure he doesn't succeed. So he has it all against him and the inexperience of not working in the boxing business. They should have known it's very unlikely that Rahman’s going to make 200lbs.
“The kid had three weeks to make the weight. In all fairness to Jake Paul, you can’t counter once you’ve signed the contract.
“They’ve still lost a lot of money. When you’re hiring out Madison Square Garden, a Saturday night in August - they could have put on a big event - it’s not a good look for anybody. Who’s fault is it? Dunno, it doesn't matter. Jake Paul is not fighting, even worse, Amanda Serrano is not going to fight."
You can watch the DAZN Boxing Show in full tonight here where Eddie Hearn discusses Jake Paul and the weekend's biggest boxing developments.