Matchroom Sport

Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool, bowling, golf, fishing, darts, table tennis, poker and gymnastics. The company is based in Brentwood, Essex.[1] Matchroom has broadcasting agreements in the United Kingdom with Sky Sports, the BBC and ITV.[2]

Matchroom Sport logo

History

Matchroom formed in 1982 concentrating on snooker management with the likes of Steve Davis, Dennis Taylor, and Jimmy White under contract. It sponsored two non-ranking tournaments, the Matchroom Professional Championship (1986–1988, restricted to its contracted players) and Matchroom League (1987–1994). A novelty song called "Snooker Loopy" by "Chas & Dave and The Matchroom Mob" reached number 6 in the UK Singles Chart in 1986, with five Matchroom players featured on backup vocals and in the video.

Hearn's first foray into boxing promotion was the Frank Bruno vs. Joe Bugner heavyweight clash in 1987 in front of 35,000 people at White Hart Lane.[3][4]

The range of sports increased in 1994 with the Mosconi Cup, an event which sees teams from Europe and the United States compete in a 9-ball pool tournament.[5][6] It has become a major event on the professional pool calendar.[7]

Over the years, Matchroom's portfolio under Hearn grew, taking a majority stake in the Professional Darts Corporation in 2001, helping oversee a growth in the sport.[4] Matchroom Sport also promote the World Cup of Pool, a national team scotch doubles event, and the World Pool Masters, an annual nine-ball event.[8]

In 2002, the company formed PGA EuroPro Tour, the UK's leading developmental golf tour, in association with the PGA.[9] Later, in the 2000s, came ten pin bowling's Weber Cup.[10] In 2009, Barry Hearn became the majority shareholder in World Snooker Tour Ltd. Since then the sport has grown, with prize money increased and new events introduced worldwide.[11]

More recently, Matchroom has launched the World Championship of Ping Pong,[12] Superstars of Gymnastics, British Basketball All-Stars,[13] and British Fast5 Netball All-Stars.

In April 2021, Barry Hearn stepped down as chairman with his son Eddie taking over the role. Barry will continue as president in an advisory role, while Eddie takes over as head of the PGA EuroPro tour, alongside overseeing Matchroom's wider operations and continuing to head the boxing division.[14]

Boxing

Current stable

[15]

Boxer Nationality Weight Signed Title
Nikita Ababiy United States American Middleweight 17 July 2018
Murodjon Akhmadaliev Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Bantamweight 25 April 2019
Demetrius Andrade United States American Middleweight 17 July 2018 WBO middleweight champion
Qais Ashfaq England English Bantamweight 1 February 2018
Martin Bakole Democratic Republic of the Congo Congolese Heavyweight 10 July 2019
Zelfa Barrett England English Super-featherweight March 2020 Commonwealth super-featherweight champion
Reece Bellotti England English Featherweight 30 June 2015
Conor Benn England English Welterweight 30 March 2016
Chris Billam-Smith England English Cruiserweight Commonwealth cruiserweight champion
Dmitry Bivol Russia Russian Light-heavyweight 15 January 2019 WBA light-heavyweight champion
Arthur Biyarslanov Canada Canadian Light-welterweight 29 March 2019
Cecilia Brækhus Norway Norwegian Welterweight 22 October 2019
Joshua Buatsi England English Light-heavyweight 5 June 2017
Ricky Burns Scotland Scottish Lightweight 11 March 2013
Chantelle Cameron England English Light-welterweight WBC female light-welterweight champion
Felix Cash England English Middleweight 11 May 2016 Commonwealth middleweight champion
Marc Castro United States American Featherweight
Ted Cheeseman England English Light-middleweight 9 April 2015 British light-middleweight champion
Souleymane Cissokho France French Light-middleweight
Kieron Conway England English Light-middleweight 12 July 2019
Joe Cordina Wales Welsh Lightweight 1 February 2017 British lightweight champion
Shannon Courtenay England English Super-featherweight
Robbie Davies Jr England English Light-welterweight
John Docherty Scotland Scottish Super-middleweight 11 July 2018
Sam Eggington England English Light-middleweight 1 October 2014
Alexis Espino United States American Middleweight 28 October 2018
Juan Francisco Estrada Mexico Mexican Super-flyweight 28 June 2019 WBA (Super) and The Ring super-flyweight champion
Tevin Farmer United States American Super-featherweight 23 August 2018
Aqib Fiaz England English Lightweight
Rocky Fielding England English Super-middleweight 6 June 2012
Scott Fitzgerald England English Light-middleweight 21 September 2015 British light-middleweight champion
Raymond Ford United States American Super-featherweight
Anthony Fowler England English Light-middleweight 20 April 2017
Charles Frankham England English Featherweight 14 January 2019
Kid Galahad England English Featherweight
Jordan Gill England English Featherweight 29 October 2018
Shakhram Giyasov Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Welterweight 25 April 2019
Devin Haney United States American Lightweight 25 April 2019 WBC lightweight champion
Terri Harper England English Super-featherweight 24 September 2019 WBC, and IBO female super-featherweight champion
John Hedges England English Super-middleweight
Filip Hrgović Croatia Croatian Heavyweight 14 February 2019
Daniel Jacobs United States American Middleweight 23 September 2017
Callum Johnson Scotland Scottish Light-heavyweight 30 June 2015
Natasha Jonas England English Lightweight 20 June 2017
Otha Jones III United States American Welterweight 16 January 2019
Anthony Joshua England English Heavyweight 24 July 2013
Josh Kelly England English Welterweight 8 February 2017
Israil Madrimov Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Light-middleweight 7 March 2019
Magomedrasul Majidov Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Heavyweight 10 September 2019
Florian Marku Albania Albanian Welterweight 27 November 2020
Savannah Marshall England English Super-middleweight 1 August 2019
Julio Cesar Martinez Mexico Mexican Flyweight 11 October 2019 WBC flyweight champion
Reshat Mati United States American Lightweight 17 July 2018
Lawrence Okolie England English Cruiserweight 18 January 2017 WBO cruiserweight champion
Diego Pacheco United States American Middleweight 5 October 2018
Hopey Price England English Super-bantamweight 11 October 2018
Craig Richards England English Light-heavyweight
Lewis Ritson England English Light-welterweight 10 October 2017
Srisaket Sor Rungvisai Thailand Thai Super-flyweight 30 January 2019
John Ryder England English Super-middleweight
Billy Joe Saunders England English Super-middleweight 13 August 2019
Ellie Scotney England English Featherweight
Callum Smith England English Super-middleweight 3 October 2012
Dalton Smith England English Light-welterweight 21 March 2019
Katie Taylor Republic of Ireland Irish Lightweight 27 October 2016 WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring female lightweight champion
James Tennyson Northern Ireland Northern Irish Lightweight
Jessie Vargas United States American Light-middleweight 17 July 2018
Josh Warrington England English Featherweight February 2020
Martin Joseph Ward England English Super-featherweight 31 May 2012
Fabio Wardley England English Heavyweight
Dillian Whyte England English Heavyweight 20 May 2016
Thomas Whittaker Hart England English Light-heavyweight
Austin Williams United States American Middleweight 26 February 2019
Gamal Yafai England English Super-bantamweight
Khalid Yafai England English Super-flyweight 14 May 2012
Daniyar Yeleussinov Kazakhstan Kazakhstani Welterweight 5 March 2018
Zhang Zhilei China Chinese Heavyweight 24 September 2020
Canelo Alvarez Mexico Mexican Super-middleweight 19 December 2020 WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF, and The Ring super middleweight champion

References

  1. "MATCHROOM SPORT LIMITED".
  2. "Matchroom, PDC, and WST Pen Momentous Multi-Year Broadcast Deal with Itv". 18 January 2021.
  3. Gibson, John (29 July 2008). "Hit man Hearn has shown Midas touch across the whole spectrum of sport; From boxing to darts and snooker to soccer, rags to riches story of ex-accountant who has become a big player in his own right". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle.
  4. Ranson, Jacob (31 December 2020). "Barry Hearn awarded OBE in New Year honours list". eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
  5. "Faith, hope and charity". Sunday Life. 20 November 1994. p. 82.
  6. "Pool star Kelly Fisher wants women to compete at the Mosconi Cup again". skysports.com. 7 May 2021.
  7. "Mosconi Cup returns to Las Vegas, live on Sky Sports". skysports.com. 7 December 2017.
  8. "World Pool Masters Archives - Matchroom Pool". Matchroom Pool. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  9. "Brady's confidence high on the Europro Tour". Irish Independent. 24 June 2002. p. Golfer 3. Retrieved 7 August 2020 via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. "About".
  11. "World Snooker: Barry Hearn's replacement Steve Dawson ponders filling big shoes and dealing with Judd Trump". BBC Sport. 27 April 2021.
  12. Jim White, "Darts king Barry Hearn turns his global sights to table tennis", The Daily Telegraph, 4 January 2013.
  13. "Home ⋆ All Stars Basketball". All Stars Basketball.
  14. "Barry Hearn replaced by son Eddie as chairman of Matchroom". BBC Sport. 20 April 2021.
  15. "Boxers Archive - Matchroom Boxing". Matchroom Boxing.
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