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Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has slammed critics who question Saudi Arabia's ever-increasing involvement in boxing.
Boxing is certainly on the rise. The popularity of the sport has grown massively over the past few years thanks to the influencer boxing scene and high-profile fights materializing, which wasn't the case earlier.
A big part of this surge is also the involvement of Saudi Arabia in the sport. Over the past few years, the country has hosted a number of big boxing events. Despite giving fans the fights they want to see, Saudi Arabia's involvement in boxing has also been heavily criticized.
Speaking about it during his appearance on The MMA Hour, Hearn said:
"People go, 'Oh, don't you feel like you're taking boxing away from America or Britain?' It's like there's this thing called the world. Boxing doesn't just have to exist in America or Britain. Of course, for me as a Brit, I wanna bring in as many big fights to our country as possible and with our business in America but just because another country has come in and started to show interest, doesn't mean that it's a negative"
Catch Eddie Hearn's comments in the video below (3:49:07):
Eddie Hearn gives his prediction for Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou
Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou are set to lock horns on March 8 in Saudi Arabia. On paper, Joshua should be able to beat Ngannou, but the latter's performance against Tyson Fury has led to many believing that 'The Predator' will give 'AJ' a tough test.
However, Eddie Hearn doesn't think so and believes it is rather delusional to think that the former UFC heavyweight champion could beat the Brit inside the squared circle. During an interview with Ariel Helwani earlier this week, Hearn spoke about how Ngannou would be "easy work" for Joshua. He said:
"I promise you this, respect to Francis, easy work for my man and I know Ariel, I know you're getting a little bit high right now, I know the MMA world is walking in the clouds, but we will bring it straight back to reality."
Catch Eddie Hearn's comments in the clip below:
