Eddie Hearn: “Maidana v McCloskey makes sense in Vegas or Belfast”

In the press conference after Paul McCloskey v Breidis Prescott, both Eddie Hearn and the Dungiven boxer talked glowingly about a possible world title fight with Marcus Maidana in either Las Vegas or Belfast.

Hearn confirmed that he will be working immediately on securing McCloskey a 'world' title shot.

The following are highlights from the post-fight press conference attended by Eddie Hearn, Paul McCloskey and John Breen.

Was that his hardest fight?

“It probably was. For attrition, and heart and having to dig deep. It wasn’t my best performance, I think I have to give him a wee bit of credit, he dragged me into a fight. His reach was unbelievable, it was longer than expected. I dealt with it. He caught me with left hooks to the side of the head and there was one time when he caught me I felt it but other than that there I was never dazed or wobbled. The one that put me down in the first, I was annoyed about that because it wasn’t a knock down and that could have been a 10-8 round.

“I caught him with a few body shots and I could feel him slowing down. After four or five rounds I seen his power diminish. I noticed this when I studied him, he is a four or five round fighter at times. I can see now why he is. The power left him after four or five rounds. He tired a lot. I think the body shots that I was catching him, just the single shots and I think they were slowing him down. John wanted me to throw more combinations but it wasn’t as easy as it looked in there – if it was I would have threw them.”

McCloskey on his tactics:

"We thought he would have came out and jumped on us from the start, but he didn’t, although he still threw a lot of shots. I felt I was more effective when I had him on the back foot, he was more effective coming forward, I felt that myself. When he was on the back foot I was controlling the fight. I watched him on the video and anybody who backs him up, he does do a lot back. John just said throw more punches, but you are doing the right thing, put him on the back foot.

On the body shots:

“I had Peter McDonagh over for sparring and when we were sparring I dropped him nearly every day with that body shot and he said to me if you land that punch on anyone and you will put them down. I landed a few (on Prescott) and every time I landed I could hear him wince.”

On the bust nose:

“The blood was annoying me. I couldn’t breathe right. And when I just flushed it just came flying out.

Eddie Hearn on McCloskey’s performance:

“It was just such a roller coaster of a fight. The knock down in the first round – which I don’t believe was knock down, it is irrelevant now. But people talk about hometown decisions, but we should never have been two points down after the first round. Paul had a poor start, then he got back into the fight, then he lost his way in the fight and up until the seventh round we were starting to worry a little bit. It wasn’t the greatest performance and he will you that himself, but what he showed was heart and desire to make sure this wasn’t the end of the road to becoming a world champion. That is what earned him victory in this fight in my opinion. In the sixth or seventh round when he hit Prescott with a body shot and he winced and he looked at his corner. He spat his gum shield out at the end of every round. He just said downstairs that he never really got over that. Paul had Prescott on the back foot at every round since then. He (Prescott) talked about us running from the fight but he had him on the back foot every round. In my opinion he won the fight and I couldn’t care less if anyone didn’t think he won the fight, because he has won the fight and proved to everyone that he has the steel and determination and ability. He showed heart, nuts and desire and for me that is what deserves a world title shot.

Eddie Hearn on a McCloskey 'world' title shot:

“I would love it to be here (Belfast) but we will go to wherever we need to go to win a world title. We will make the right decision for Paul’s career. As a profile fight there was no one else to make people stand up to take notice, than against Breidis Prescott. And no one can say he doesn’t deserve a world title after beating a man who everybody avoids.

“The great thing about boxing is that if you bring something to the table then you can get the fights. If Paul fought in a car park tonight with 50 people watching then he might not get a fight. But with the backing of Sky Sports, we have got great fans behind him. It was a great atmosphere and people will watch that and take note and think ‘there is some money to be made there’ and it is a money game.

Whether it is Maidana who decides to fight or Khan decides to fight, I don’t care who it is – we want a world title. It would be very sweet to fight Amir Khan for a world title but it would be even sweeter just to win a world title.

“There are so many options out there. The Maidana fight makes great sense, in Vegas or here (Belfast). It is a huge fight. When you look at the division and see what fighters can bring to the table, there are not many that can bring to the table what Paul McCloskey can bring.”

Paul McCloskey on 'world' title fight:

“Maidana has been in touch with me through twitter, he is a very honorable chap and a nice chap. I think he would love the fight. He sent a message tonight and that is the kind of boys you want to work with fight with.”

Hearn confirmed that The Oydssey was set up for 7000 and there was around 6100 in attendance. And refreshingly admitted that he thought might have got the pricing wrong for the tickets: “I think I might have got the pricing a little bit wrong on the tickets, it is our first time doing a show here for a while. The £30’s £40’s and £60’s sold out very quickly and the £75’s and £100’s were a little slower. But we live and learn.”