Matchroom vs Queensbury, boxing's biggest promoters agree on mega cross-promotion clash
Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren look ready to pit their top fighters against each other after a recent agreement was reached during the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou press conference this week.
2024 has only just started and it is already a fantastic year to be a fight fan. Usyk vs Fury for the undisputed heavyweight crown is just around the corner (Feb 17); Joshua looks like he could be returning to the top for one last dance; and a light-heavyweight undisputed showdown between Artur Beterbiev and Dimitry Bivol has already been agreed for 2024.
Adding even more excitement to the mix, rival promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren have agreed to stage a huge ‘five-on-five’ fight card in 2024.
Saudia Arabia has stormed into the boxing world recently, bringing the biggest fights to be made to fruition, and offering the fighters and promoters tasty compensation for doing so.
The man at the head of this newfound Boxing conglomerate, His Excellency, Turki Alalshikh looks ready to set up yet another PPV spectacle in the coming months.
Speaking at the January 15th AJ-Ngannou press conference launch, Alalshikh posed a question – or perhaps more a statement of intent – towards Hearn and Warren.
He proposed, “I want to see the first between Frank vs Eddie. Each one of them will choose five fighters and do a night against each other.”
At first, you could see confusion plastered across the promoter's faces, as before Alalshikh had finished his proposal they appeared to believe he was pitting them against each other in the ring, to which the 71-year-old joked, “It’s a mismatch!”
As soon as ‘His Excellency’ had finished, however, the two promotional titans wasted no time in agreeing to the groundbreaking bill.
Warren even went one further to propose a wager between the two promotions after he confirmed in a later interview with Dev Sahni that the event was definitely agreed.
“Yeah, we’re gonna do it. I want a big wager on it, I want to back our guys. So, what we need is an odd number of fights, so we get a winner.
“This is boxing heaven, the fans are getting everything they want.”
If the event does in fact go ahead, fans could be treated to one of the biggest events in the history of boxing.
A third fight that could likely feature on the card would see two of Artur Beterbiev’s victims share the ring as Callum Smith and Anthony Yarde will both be looking to rebuild their reputation after suffering stoppage losses to the Russian boogeyman.
The mouthwatering event no doubt will be lapped up by fight fans, and now that it is out in the open, it is a very real possibility given the Saudi boxing kingpins’ recent track record.