Eddie Hearn open to Warrington-Frampton and Whyte-Chisora timing agreement

Saturday December 22nd will see two pay-per-view cards take place in Britain at the same time.

In what is an undesirable situation, the Josh Warrington v Carl Frampton IBF featherweight title clash at the Manchester Arena will be shown on BT Sport Box Office while the heavyweight grudge rematch between Dereck Chisora and Dillian Whyte will run on Sky Sports Box Office at the O2 Arena in London.

The scheduling clash is one which has generated much controversy and led to criticism of Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn for electing to match Whyte and Chisora on the same night as the already-announced Warrington-Frampton bill.

‘The Jackal’ yesterday labelled the Whyte-Chisora rematch a “bullshit pantomime” and, with two pay-per-view cards running at the same time, the potential revenue for both sets of fighters is harmed while viewing fans will have to choose.

However, Hearn has revealed that he is open to discussing with Queensberry’s Frank Warren, common promoter of Frampton and Warrington, the idea of agreeing to stagger the start times of the main event.

Hearn told Boxing Social that “we’re up for that.”

“The O2 generally has a much earlier curfew than Manchester so perhaps we go at 10:15, 10:30, and they go at 11:15, 11:30pm.”

“I’m open for that, it makes sense.”

Of course, this scenario would still mean that viewing fans would have to buy two separate pay-per-view cards on the same night, a far from perfect scenario.

Hearn would go on to admit that the clash is not ideal – while still not being a major issue for him.

A different, smaller, venue the week beforehand was an option but not one Hearn wanted to explore, with the English promoter keen to put the show on at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena.

The Matchroom boss outlined how “it’s not about being Dr. Evil and ‘oh, we’re going to go on the same night as you’.”

“We don’t see that card as a major threat to our numbers but in an ideal world we would have gone on the 15th – but we can’t get a venue.”

“The 22nd is not a great night for pay-per-view, it’s very close to Christmas. The 15th would have been ideal O2 only had the 22nd.”

“We’ve made a decision to take more revenue on the gate and probably slightly less revenue on the pay-per-view but still be winning overall by doing it on that night.”

Watch Eddie Hearn’s interview with Boxing Social in full below: