Bob Arum: Matchroom use too many rematch clauses

Promoter Bob Arum has criticized rival and occasional colleague Eddie Hearn for his use of rematch clauses.

Arum made the point as he denied that the winner of Vasiliy Lomachenko vs Teofimo Lopez will be obliged to contest a rematch.

Lopez acknowledged that there is no such clause in the contracts for the fight set for October 17 at the Las Vegas MGM Grand.

Arum explained in a press conference ahead of the fight that the only reason for Lopez and Lomachenko to arrange a rematch would be if it suited the pair of them.

“I don’t believe in rematch clauses,” Arum claimed, before leveling the accusation at Hearn. 

“Rematch clauses are, in essence, overused thanks to our friend, Eddie Hearn. He puts a rematch clause in every contract, and that may indicate that he is not confident in how his fighter will perform. As far as I’m concerned, let them fight. There’ll be a winner, there’ll be a loser, and if down the road they want a rematch, that’s up to them. But I’m not requiring [it], and I don’t like to require a rematch in any contract that I do.”

Hearn has exercised two rematch clauses in recent history. The first was when Anthony Joshua lost his IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO belts to Andy Ruiz Jr, before winning them back in their second fight. 

Dillian Whyte will face Alexander Povetkin in November after losing his WBC interim championship to the Russian in the summer Fight Camp finale.