No more HBO woe for Katie Taylor – New deal guarantees deserved airtime says Hearn

Eddie Hearn’s new broadcast partners won’t make the same mistake HBO did and will help the Katie Taylor ‘break’ American claims the promoter.

Taylor [9(4)-0] fought on the undercard of Danny Jacobs v Maciej Sulecki at the Barclays Centre last month. The Bray fighter unified her WBA lightweight title with the IBF belt of Victoria Noelia Bustos in an entertaining ten-rounder.

However, while being third from the top of the New York bill, the 31-year-old’s fight was not part of the broadcast, instead only being shown on this side of the Atlantic via Sky Sports. Matchroom boss, Hearn bemoaned the fact before and after, while the experts at HBO seemed to regret the decision after the fight.

The Matchroom boss has since confirmed a staggering $1billion eight-year deal to stage 16 shows annually on American soil which will be broadcast on sports streaming service DAZN – and suggests Taylor will now be given the platform to show her skills Stateside.

“In a nutshell, the new deal means that Katie can box over in America regularly, we think she can become a really big star,” Hearn told Declan Taylor.

“Her performance against Bustos showed what she is all about and I know HBO regret not showing the fight live. But she will have no such problem on DAZN, who will show every card from start to finish.”

America, specifically the East Coast, has always been described as being Taylor’s long-term destination, and the big bucks deal certainly seems a major step towards this goal. What this all means for Taylor’s long-promised but consistently-delayed Irish homecoming remains to be seen.

Speaking after HBO elected against airing Taylor’s unification, Hearn hit out at the U.S. premium cable network.

“Look, people have got to learn this girl is a superstar, she is going to be around for a long time,” he scolded.

“It’s about entertainment. show me more entertaining fighters than Katie Taylor at the moment, there are not many out there. But she is on a personal mission tonight she unified titles and now it’s about picking up all the belts.”

Additionally, fight legend Roy Jones and popular HBO commentator Jim Lampley waxed lyrical about the Bray fighter’s talent.

Broadcast veteran Lampley described the contest as “what I think [was] the best women’s professional prizefight I’ve ever seen, between Katie Taylor of Ireland – and Victoria Bustos of Argentina.”

“They both came in carrying titles, this was a title unification match and it was a pitched battle all the way.”

Jones was also blown away by the performance of the Wicklow star.

The four-weight champion said that “Katie Taylor really showed us why she’s one of the best pound-for-pound female boxers on the planet.”

“This was one of the best female fights I’ve seen in my whole career.”