Exclusive: Richard Schaefer Gives His Thoughts On DAZN USA
Earlier this year, Perform Group announced a landmark streaming deal with Matchroom Boxing to bring exclusive fight cards to DAZN.
Such a partnership could change the sport and promoter Richard Schaefer is a fan of the potential DAZN in the United States. In an exclusive interview with Fightful, Schaefer said he loves what DAZN is providing to fight fans in the United States, mainly the fact that the entire second season of the World Boxing Super Series will be streamed in on DAZN USA and DAZN Canada.
“I would say with the World Boxing Super Series, they attracted the No. 1 boxing tournament, I believe, of all time. It’s a fantastic tournament where the best fight the best. Congratulations to DAZN on being able to pick up the World Boxing Super Series in the United States for fight fans. They have a great lineup for this season,” Schaefer said.
But the main draw of DAZN would be the 16 annual Matchroom Boxing USA shows. Promoter Eddie Hearn made promises of superstars joining his stable and his goal being the top boxing series in the United States.
Since that initial announcement back in May, a number of boxers have signed with Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing stable with fights coming to DAZN: Jessie Vargas, Jarrell Miller, Demetrius Andrade, and perhaps most importantly, undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. Aside from Usyk, Schaefer believes, in his eyes, that the talent pool is not very high to start but does understand that said talent pool will only get deeper as Hearn continues to work towards signing other prominent stars, such as Manny Pacquiao and Mikey Garcia.
“As it relates to the original fights that they are doing in the U.S. with Eddie Hearn, I’m cheering for DAZN. I hope it works for them and if there’s any way I can help them, I will, but I have to say, the talent they have right now is a bit light to be honest to be able to attract subscribers. But I know the fighters they have right now is not the end, it’s the beginning. There are certain aspects of their business that I would do different in order to be successful to attract some of those fighters. I think they are missing certain aspects, but I’m not going to say what that is, but I would do things differently,” Schaefer said.
DAZN has already launched in the United States with its first two boxing shows being the September 22 fight between Anthony Joshua vs. Alexander Povetkin and September 28 which is the WBSS super middleweight finals. DAZN’s first Matchroom Boxing USA show, however, will take place on October 6 in Chicago and it will feature Vargas and Miller in action as well as Danny Roman vs. Gavin McDonnell for the WBA super bantamweight title and Artur Beterbiev vs. Callum Johnson for the IBF light heavyweight title.
