“Money is the sickness of the boxing business, maybe the sickness of the world.”—Ray Arcel

 

Is greed good? It depends on who you ask, the degree of their self-awareness, and if they’re capable of providing a straight answer.

 

Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn has big plans for the future, and with DAZN’s backers footing the bill, thus far, he has nothing to lose and everything to gain, and all at the expense of others.

 

“I do believe in the product of DAZN for the value for a fight fan,” Hearn recently told Chris Mannix. “I’m actually going to say to DAZN, ‘I think you should bump the monthly fee up.’ It’s $19.99 a month. Make it $50 a month. We don’t want you to come and go. We want you to stay and be a part of this community, learn more about boxing, digest the fighters, and grow with us.”

 

There are enough fake communities to satisfy the illusion of belonging, giving the lonely a respite from their isolation. But paying $50 a month for that which rarely feels like a deal at $19.99 a month seems like a boondoggle, given the hit or miss quality of the fights DAZN streams, and hardly worth more than double the current price.

 

To justify gouging the consumer, Hearn said, “Joshua-Ruiz was three times what Joshua got on Showtime. Even in America, it’s approaching a million audience.”

 

That’s a huge audience, especially for boxing, assuming those numbers are correct. But boxing is still a fringe sport, for the usual reasons, so what fight fan in their right mind is going to pay DAZN $50 month, if they have no interest in soccer, darts, snooker, and whatever other sports beside boxing it happens to be streaming?