"Hate on what? Let me get this straight, he had what he claimed to be the number one heavyweight who supposedly had the most traction at the time, brought him to America for a debut, put him in a short-notice fight he shouldn't have never been in fighting a guy like Andy Ruiz, who has tremendous skills and just came off of a fight, got him beat, and now he's the number four guy. (Laughing) What is there to hate on," stated Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe, who responded to recent comments made by promoter Eddie Hearn. You don't want to miss what else he had to say. Check it out!
BT: L, Eddie Hearn says you're a hater, so you know I had to call to get your response.
LE: (Laughing) Hate on what? Let me get this straight, he had what he claimed to be the number one heavyweight who supposedly had the most traction at the time, brought him to America for a debut, put him in a short-notice fight he shouldn't have never been in fighting a guy like Andy Ruiz, who has tremendous skills and just came off of a fight, got him beat, and now he's the number four guy. (Laughing) What is there to hate on? Bob Arum just outmaneuvered him; took his champ [Jose Ramirez] and tricked Eddie out of several million dollars in a fight [vs. Maurice Hooker] that he knew he couldn't lose. Now Bob returns back to ESPN laughing with the belt and the bag of money in hand, but I'm a hater? Yeah, okay; yeah right! Eddie's a good promoter who likes to hear himself talk, but a lot of the shit he talks about doesn't even make any sense. Everybody's laughing at him. He's running around here acting like he's got Canelo. That's why Oscar had to check him. He's always trying to be seen and heard; go sit your ass down somewhere!
BT: What did you think about his idea of agreeing on a 60/40 split for Davis-Farmer?
LE: He needs to be more worried about sitting down with Anthony Joshua to explain to him how he's ruining a great career. In my opinion, Joshua shouldn't be fighting on an app and the rematch with Andy Ruiz damn sure shouldn't be on an app. Joshua should be maximizing his revenue in America by fighting on pay-per-view. A rematch of that magnitude during this revived era of heavyweight boxing is life-changing money for both guys. A great example, look at the life-changing money that Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury are getting ready to make fighting on pay-per-view, being promoted on two major platforms with hundreds of millions of viewers. And oh, by the way, this is the same place that Gervonta Davis is heading at 24 years old. That is a huge fight and both guys are going to make life-changing money because their teams made a great decision to maximize revenue and exposure. Can you imagine the kind of money that Joshua and Ruiz would be making if the rematch was done on pay-per-view with Andy Ruiz being the first Mexican heavyweight champion in the history of the sport? If you speak to any of the people who have been involved with the biggest fights in the history of the sport, a group of people that he's not a member of, they all will agree on the fact that these guys are leaving a shitload of money on the table. Meanwhile, Anthony Joshua, unfortunately, is on the outside looking in and he's probably going to get clipped again by Andy Ruiz in the rematch, which could literally end his career. Muscles don't win fights; great skills and experience do, and that's something that Andy Ruiz has. But that's what happens when you're working for the network and not the fighter.
But this is America, not Europe. His platform definitely works for some guys. It's a great alternative for fighters who don't aspire to be long-term superstars. It gives them an opportunity to make good money and stay busy, but the downfall is limited exposure. What he doesn't seem to understand is that no young fighter with unlimited potential who's aspiring to be a superstar in this sport is taking his career to an app where nobody is watching. The fighters are much smarter than he gives them credit for. He thinks you can throw short-term money at some fighters, but fortunately, the fighters are armed with the knowledge and information that they can have both, the cash and maximum exposure. Gervonta Davis makes great money and has the biggest upside of anybody in the sport. These are what the facts are. Tank makes 3 times what Farmer makes in a fight. With all due respect to Farmer, Tank is selling out venues abroad, he's selling out venues on the west coast, he's selling out venues on the east coast, and Farmer can't even sell out in his own hometown. I really like Farmer and I've been a big supporter of his on the record. I love how he's changed his life by overcoming the odds and what he's done with his boxing career thus far. I like how he's made his family, his city, and more importantly himself proud, but at the end of the day, this is a business! By him turning down our offer, I'm not mad at him at all. That's his prerogative and I wish him nothing but the best. I'm not mad at any fighter who's trying to get their money, and anybody who knows me, knows that. I encourage any fighter to keep on tricking Eddie Hearn out of whatever bags they can get, but with Gervonta Davis, we have a game plan that's going to make Tank the biggest superstar in the sport and we know what we're doing over here. So again, what is there to hate on? The one thing Eddie Hearn needs to do is keep my name out of his mouth!
BE SURE TO CHECK BACK SOON FOR MUCH MORE FROM MAYWEATHER PROMOTIONS CEO LEONARD ELLERBE
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