2 weeks ago
1 Eddie Hearn has responded after being accused of going back on his promise to deliver free tickets to his boxing events for NHS workers.
Back in March when the sport was initially shut down by the coronavirus pandemic, Matchroom posted a public statement on the matter.
Hearn has responded to the criticismMark Robinson/Matchroom
It read: “Matchroom Boxing will donate 200 tickets per event at our Saturday Fight Night and PPV shows to the brave front line NHS heroes fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
“The scheme will last for 12 months from when it is safe for boxing to resume.”
Hearn said as part of the statement: “We’ve been thinking about how we can say thank you to the incredible NHS workers that have selflessly helped everybody through this COVID-19 crisis.
“They’ve been absolutely amazing and from our side at Matchroom Boxing we are announcing a new scheme for when we get back to our live shows where we will be giving away 200 tickets to NHS workers for every Saturday Fight Night and PPV show around the country from hopefully this summer forward.
“We can’t thank you enough for all of your support. NHS workers, you have been absolutely incredible, and you are the pride of our country. Stay well everyone, stay safe, stay at home and we’ll get through this soon.”
Joshua and Pulev meet on Saturday night at Wembley ArenaDave Thompson/Matchroom
It has taken longer than hoped, but now a limited number of 1,000 fans are finally allowed back to watch Anthony Joshua vs Kubrat Pulev on Saturday night.
Of those 1,000 tickets, Hearn has not given 200 to NHS workers and been criticised for this on social media.
In response, he told iFL TV: “I said that when we are back up and running we will be giving 200 tickets to NHS workers for every show, that’s still in place.
“I wouldn’t really say we’re ‘up and running’ to be honest with you.
“We’re in a situation where we’ve got a week’s notice to run a system where the council, the arena had to put in place a system to record people’s data who are coming, to have ID on the door.
Hearn insists he will deliver on his promiseGetty
“And it wasn’t a situation of just us having access to tickets that we could just give out. We didn’t have the infrastructure in place.
“We have reached out to a number of NHS workers that will be attending and we will be giving them tickets.
“It won’t be 200, but at least we’re getting NHS workers in to the arena on Saturday night and we’ve gotta put the system in place for when things return to normality.
“Being honest with you – can we consistently give NHS workers 200 tickets when we’ve got 1,000 tickets? Maybe, maybe not.
“But it’s more about the system that’s in place. We can’t balls this up to be quite honest with you.
“We need to make sure we do as we’re told from the government and the council with regards to logging tickets in the system.
“Eventually we need our own NHS system where people can apply with their ID numbers or whatever they are, go through a system, we can make sure they’re legitimate people who work for the NHS, we can do some kind of ballot and post it out – we’ve had six days!
“So we can’t do it, but we have been reaching out to a number of NHS workers who will be in attendance on Saturday.”
Joshua vs Pulev was initially supposed to have 60,000 in attendance at Tottenham Hotspur StadiumNFL UK
Hearn continued: “I know people who don’t like me or have an agenda will now be- I’ve seen it, I’ve seen the [Twitter] thread, ‘Oh, he said this, he said this.’
“I said, ‘When we’re back up and running.’ We ain’t up and running.
“We don’t have access to tickets at the moment. It’s all done by AXS, it’s all done by the council to make sure that things are policed correctly.
“We have personally been reaching out to try and make sure that we can do something for some people, which is difficult in itself to be honest with you, you’ve got to be in the same household, they don’t want you coming from Tier 3, you’ve got to provide ID.
“But we’re trying, we will make sure NHS workers are in attendance, there won’t be 200 there.
“Moving forwards, when we get back to normality, when we have access to tickets, we will make sure a system is in place to deliver on our promises.
“And I won’t let them down.”
English (United States)