Hearn: No one’s talking about Valdez-Stevenson, Taylor-Serrano is bigger
The Matchroom promoter is biased, but he sees his card as the bigger of two great main events this Saturday.
Women’s boxing will go to a new level of promotion on Saturday, when Katie Taylor defends her undisputed lightweight championship against Amanda Serrano in the main event at Madison Square Garden, a fight that has co-promoter Eddie Hearn very excited for obvious reasons.
But it’s not the only great main event coming this weekend, either, as Oscar Valdez and Shakur Stevenson will unify 130 lb titles in an ESPN main event the same night.
Hearn doesn’t really see Valdez-Stevenson getting the same sort of attention that Taylor-Serrano is and will.
“No one’s talking about Valdez-Stevenson. I’m sorry, it’s a great fight, but Taylor-Serrano is a moment in time,” Hearn told Ak and Barak on the DAZN Boxing Show.
“Trust me when I say the amount of media that is coming to Madison Square Garden, I’ve never seen anything like it. This fight, when it comes around on Saturday, will be absolutely massive — massive.
“And the undercard is off the charts. Liam Smith against Jessie Vargas is a main event fight in the US, in the UK. You’ve got Crews-Dezurn against Cederroos, you’ve got Galal Yafai the Olympic champion, you’ve got ‘Ammo’ Williams in a great fight as well. It’s such a great night of boxing, and I’m on that plane tomorrow, and I cannot wait. I’m going to give this, with my partner Jake Paul, the full monty this week.”
“I think people have embraced (Taylor-Serrano),” he added. “People are excited for this moment in time. People have bought into this moment.”
Serrano’s promoter Jake Paul has worked with Hearn and Matchroom on this fight, and the two sides have done an outstanding job promoting it in the build-up, with Paul getting a lot of credit, even from those who generally aren’t Jake Paul fans.
Asked how he felt about Paul getting that praise for helping to elevate women’s boxing, Hearn remarked with a smile, “Yeah, it’s great. It’s great. I mean, Jake Paul has been helping women’s boxing for six months. I’ve been doing it for six years, but he gets (all the credit).
“I tell you what, I’m over the moon, I don’t care, I don’t care. Give him the plaudits. I will be a very proud man on Saturday night when I see Madison Square Garden full up for a brilliant fight.”
Bad Left Hook will have live coverage for Taylor vs Serrano on Saturday, April 30, with prelims starting at 4:30 pm ET and the main card at 7:30 pm ET, an early start time that will give fans a chance to see both the Taylor-Serrano and Valdez-Stevenson main events.