Barn Herne said he would still be amazed at the uprunners' ability to engage audiences if he "might have the chance" to come face-to-face with well-known boxing masters like Jack Paul.
Text: Donald McRae, The Guardian
Barry Herne was already on the back burner, but we interviewed him in his extravagant old office to talk about how his son Eddie beat Jack Paul in a traffic contest to win millions of pounds. We also spoke to Hearn about his rich reflections on sports and life, work and fame, death and marriage.
Hearne said: "As Jack Paul showed, you don't need to do everything well now, you just need to be famous, so this brings different perspectives on this from different times." Even if you're not all good, how can I make you famous? ”
What prompted Hearn to pay attention to the up-lords? In response, Hearn said: "In Jack Paul's boxing match with former UFC (Infinity Fighting) player Tyron Woodley last month, Jack Paul received a million paid point-and-clicks in the United States. When was the last time a traditional contest received a million paid voosks? Star boxers like Carnello Alvarez won't get a million paid points in their November showdown with Kahler Plante. So in the face of the new circle, we have to use different criteria to measure. ”
The inclusion of Caneiro by Eddie Hearne shows that he is a better boxing promoter than his father, Barry Herne. Carneiro is the most powerful presence in the world of boxing, so will the elder Henn be disappointed that Canero was beaten by an amateur athlete in traffic?
"It's definitely disappointing for some people, but not for me. My promotion can make people like Steve Davis who have no explosive points make a lot of money and make a name for themselves, which shows that your promotion can be carried out from different angles. When I met Steve (Davis), what I saw was his dedication to snooker. I wasn't in a hurry to find personality players. Actually marketing player personality is a later matter. The first thing that took over Steve's promotion was actually because he worked too hard, and that's what I wanted. If they don't have a firm belief, then nothing else is useful. Will you block the bullets for what you believe in? For Davis, he would definitely answer 'yes'. ”
"The times are completely different now than they were before. Jack and Logan Paul have six-pack abs, and they're well-known up owners on YouTube, and that's their signature. It's helpful if you're great in the industry you're in, but it may not matter right now. Numbers don't lie – whether it's Love Island (a British blockbuster reality show) or Jack Paul's million paid-on-demand screenings. I'm not good at boxing, but I might try it out against Jack. I think Eddie will beat him easily. We talked about it last Sunday. Eddie promises that he will also win a $5 million prize money (beating Paul) through six months of training. We're not even going to do it for bonuses, what a huge marketing opportunity it's going to be. Can you imagine? ”
Eddie Herne vs. Jack Paul, just listing the names of two people is already a surrealist marketing idea. That's why a 73-year-old sales veteran, Barry Hearn, would be interested in the idea. When reporters suggested he be a coach for Eddie, The elder Herne smiled and said, "Oh man, I haven't lost as a coach." I've only done it four times (coaching) but I've won all four games. Francis Ambov (flyweight player of the 90s) twice, and Emon Lauren (second-middleweight player of the same era) twice. They all wanted me to stay and mentor them, but I felt like 'no, I've been to the top'. ”
Old Herne was clearly more old-school than his son, so to prevent us from taking that surrealist marketing promotion idea seriously before, he said bluntly: "It's never going to happen because I'm not going to let it happen." We still have business to do. ”
Hearne stepped down as president of Matchroom Sport in April, a position he took over from his son, Eddie. On Wednesday, Hearn also won the Coutts Lifetime Achievement Award at the Sports Industry Awards Gala. Rather than winning the award, Hearn would like to celebrate that Matchroom has survived the covid-19 pandemic despite a sharp drop in profits. Hearne said: "Our pre-tax income before COVID-19 was £28 million. That's not too bad for a small business in Brentwood. Last year's revenue fell to £22 million due to the impact of covid-19. In order to adapt to the government's epidemic prevention policy, we have launched many creative activities. We had darts players in their kitchens with mobile phones to record their training and daily routines, and put them on TV, but the broadcasters didn't do much more. ”
"We've always had reserves, and we've never been afraid to take out the reserves at difficult times. Suddenly, the COVID-19 pandemic came, and all the normal order was upended, but we didn't cut even a penny of bonuses. During the pandemic, even with no audience and no income, we did more activities. It is also for this reason that we are now in an advantageous position of expansion, and it is foreseeable that this year's revenue will increase significantly. Our business is in terms of content ownership, the more you do, the more you own, the more you earn. This gives us more impetus to sports such as snooker, boxing and darts. ”
"Darts has unlimited potential, but we haven't developed very deeply yet, and that could be a big market. There's always going to be some traditional people who say, 'Fat guys only play darts, so it's hard to say that darts are a sport, aren't they?' But I believe in the instinct that the sport of darts gives me, and I love darts. There is no barrier to entry into darts and I can smell its potential. Everything I hated was gone in darts. It doesn't matter where you go to school or how much money your father has. Importantly. Can you throw these darts into the dart board? The difference between such a simple and easy-to-use sport is the bonus. It's simple, there are so many people out there who are eager to invest, and our job is to become robin Hood in sports. We rob the rich, we take money from broadcasters, and we give it to the athletes. ”
Despite having a second heart attack in April 2020, Hearne remained energetic. But now that he has stepped down as president of Matchroom and is focused on "group strategy and global expansion", does he have more time to take a broader look at the sports space?
Hearne replied: "It's an interesting question because I'm better at thinking now. We've had so many events, but sometimes I look back and think, 'What have we achieved?' Is our investment sufficient? Are we wasting our time? What do these numbers say? ’。 Jerry Maguire (the sports agent played by Tom Cruise in the movie Mr. Sweetheart) would say' and I would say ' show me the data' – because the data is equal to the money. ”
"There's something snobbish about a sport as historic as horse racing. They always call themselves the upper movement, and we always call it 'the flower rack in name'. Horse racing does have its own system, but it doesn't necessarily mean anything about it. We've seen where the points of appeal to non-traditional audiences are. See what Eddie does in boxing. That's our audience. ”
Hearn said: "Originally I had 500 die-hard fans who would go anywhere for a game. Then Eddie showed up, and when Anthony Joshua played Vladimir Klitchenko at Wembley in 2017, 71,000 tickets were instantly skipped out, and more than 100,000 people were still waiting for the tickets. Eddie could have sold 200,000 tickets in a single day. Who else do we want to attract? Of course, it's those who come for entertainment, such as the female community and those who don't even think about boxing. They may want to go to the boxing ring to punch in and check in 'I'll come too'. This is something that can be on the 'Bucket List'. ”
"Everyone who works in sports promotion wants to attract more people, but a lot of them don't have a real vision of how to really expand. You can sell tickets to the World Cup final on a dog-drawn campaign, but how can you get 7,000 people to go to Wolverhampton on Tuesday to watch a darts match? This is when you realize your potential. ”
Hearn is still a "treasure old boy". The Mascalls, where we interviewed, are the ancestral home of the Hearn family for decades. Last summer and this year, Hearn transformed it into a fighting bootcamp venue, allowing Matchroom to prepare for the return of boxing in its own backyard during the COVID-19 lockdown.
"When I came here, I was full of ambition to do something. Of course it has to be within the legal range, otherwise my mother will discipline me. I had just bought the place in 1982 and she was standing outside in the patio and asking me, 'Are you doing something illegal?' I said, 'Mom, I'm a chartered accountant.' We're not a very good gang.'" My success was like a fairy tale, I grew up living in a public rental house for twenty years, my father was a bus driver, and then I built the best sports promotion business in the world with my personal efforts. ”
This summer, the Hearn family has ushered in another fairytale story. Barry and his wife have been married for 51 years, but his wife, Susan, has been living in seclusion. She has been focusing on horse breeding, and after three decades of grinding Susan ushered in a surprise in June. One of her horses, The Subjectivist, which she bred in The Mascalls, won the Gold Cup in Ascot.
Barry was also thrilled and proud to learn that Susan had won horse racing honors, describing it as "one of the greatest days of my life."
Herne said; "Susan is really old-school, and she's the only person I'm afraid of and Eddie. At a Family Dinner on Sunday, you dare to talk about business and your dinner will be fed to the dog. I remember when Eddie was in kindergarten, he was a bad boy, a woman kicked his leg and Susan slapped the woman back. They were both locked up. ”
Asked if there would be any reforms, Barry replied: "No, but it's good for pay-per-view shows." ”
Hearn was also asked if he would be taken by his wife to participate in horse racing, and Herne said: "Susan has expressed strong dissatisfaction with the low prize money for horse racing. I am in the process of initial communication with the jockey club to see if I can participate in the sponsorship. If I had been a little younger, I would have done so. It's easy for me to see the problems in horse racing. When I spoke to someone from the Jockey Club, I said ' What do you think of NFTs (non-homogeneous tokens)?' Everybody will say, 'What are you talking about?' ’。 ”
NFTs are unforgotten tokens that can be recorded and traded digitally. Herne shrugged and said, "I don't know much about it yet, but you can feel its potential in the future." ”
Hearn's feud with the horse racer has yet to be sorted out, but as veteran cricketer Hearn has a more personal sporting ideal of playing for England's 70-year-olds. "I'm going to have a big break next year. I played for the Essex Senators (players over 70) this summer and I was supposed to score 100 points against Sarri. I ended up hitting 50 and I thought, 'This is really impeccable, I'm drifting.' When you start believing this, it's all over'. ”
"A lot of these meta-boss players were much better than me a few years ago. But the gap is gradually closing because I am healthier and stronger. That might get me into the national team as a very useful all-rounder. A friend of mine called and said 'I'm going to be the golf captain of England over 70 next week, do you want to go play?' I categorically refused 'no, they're all too slow, I just want to challenge them'. ”