US-based boxing promoter Richard Schaefer has taken shots at rival promoter Eddie Hearn and new US streaming platform DAZN. He says he doesn’t think Anthony Joshua will do big numbers in the US.

Schaefer and Hearn have gone back and forth in the media a lot this year but now that streaming giant DAZN are close to their first show on September 22nd in the US, in terms of streaming Joshua vs Povetkin, Schaefer has upped the war or words.

Speaking to Fight Hype, Schaefer said:

“Well he (Eddie Hearn) really hasn’t gotten anybody of note. I don’t think that Anthony Joshua is going to move the needle here in the US. Lets call it what it is – it’s less than impressive. That Facebook card (Golden Boy Promotions card) which happened this past weekend was 57,000 (live viewers) and that’s Facebook promoting boxing. So they had 57,000 watching Ryan Garcia fight and you have DAZN which will probably find it hard to crack 10,000 live viewers. I’m just calling it the way it is. I’m not making this s*** up. It’s true, you guys can check this out yourself.”

He went on to say:

“Whether that’s good for Anthony Joshua to become a big name or if it would have been better for him to be fighting on Showtime or one of these other platforms, we’ll see.”

DAZN have already been very successful in the German and Japanese markets with sports media.

The more competition in boxing in the US, the better for fans. At the end of the day.

Exciting times for boxing ahead.