Eddie Hearn is a British sports promoter with a considerable track record in the industry. He is the Chairman of Matchroom Sport and Professional Darts Corporation. Through promoting some of the biggest names in sport, Eddie Hearn has earned himself a net worth of £45 million in 2023.
Background
Hearn was born on June 8, 1979 into an affluent family in Essex, England. He’s the son of Matchroom Sport’s founder and well-known boxing promoter, Barry Hearn. His father is worth a reported £82 million.
Young Eddie attended the Brentwood School in Essex, a boarding school. Here was where he first got exposure to sports, playing cricket and football but had poor grades.
Next he attended Havering Sixth Form College in Hornchurch, his father enticed him to study more by offering him £1,000 if he received a C or above in his A-level studies.
Promotional Career
After finishing school, he didn’t work for the family business immediately. He began his career in the West End of London, working for a sports management firm that represented golfers.
Later he went on to work at Matchroom, promoting online poker events that were broadcast around the world. He befriended Audley Harrison at a poker game and decided to help him rebuild his career, resulting in Harrison fighting for the WBA belt against David Haye.
Although the fight was a disaster for Audley, Hearn did an outstanding job promoting the event, and pay-per-view sales were substantial. This marked the beginning of Hearn’s Matchroom boxing ventures.
Matchroom Sport
Eddie Hearn’s entry into boxing took the British market by storm. And is undoubtedly the top boxing promoter in the UK and among the top five in the world.
In 2015, Hearn inked an exclusive television boxing deal with Sky Sports, showing up to 20 shows per year. Sky served as a huge platform to promote his boxers and Hearn signed up the best talent in the UK. The agreement lasted until 2021, he signed a five-year deal with Dazn worth £100 million as reported by the independent.co.uk.
Eddie has promoted the likes of Canelo Alvarez, Anthony Joshua, Usyk and Golovkin. He was also behind the KSI vs. Logan Paul bout, before the boxing influencer trend became popular. Matchroom Sport is worth an estimated £1 billion according to sportbusiness.com.
Social Media Fame
Hearn is a famous personality on social media and has 1.1 million followers on Twitter. Hearn’s lively banter has resulted in someone creating an account called “NoContextHearn” which has broken into the mainstream media. He has an infamous GIF floating around the internet in which he says, “Oh go on then!” with a funny facial expression.
Personal Life
The acclaimed promoter is married to Chloe, and they have two daughters. Eddie owns multiple homes, but his house in Los Angeles stands out the most. Hearn revealed he did some amateur boxing in his younger years but hung up his gloves to focus on the business side of the sport.