Exclusive: Eddie Hearn Convinced Pat Brown Will Become Britain's Biggest Ticket Seller

Eddie Hearn is convinced Pat Brown has what it takes to become the biggest ticket seller in boxing.

Speaking as the Mancunian prepares to make his professional debut at Altrincham on Friday night, Hearn revealed he can envisage a situation where the latest addition to his promotional stable attracts thousands of followers to fights in all four corners of the globe.

Around 400 of Brown’s fans attended an event just before Christmas designed to announce his entry into the paid ranks. 

Hearn, who described himself as “amazed” by the cruiserweight’s pulling power, insisted the groundswell of support behind Brown means that, providing he performs as expected inside the ring, he can one day follow in Ricky Hatton’s footsteps by becoming the most popular and marketable figure in the sport.

“The base Pat has already got, out there in his community, is something else,” Hearn said, speaking exclusively to SportsBoom.com. 

“And that base is organic. It’s real. It’s not manufactured or false. These people are just so, so behind him."

“We’ve had hundreds turn up to a night when he wasn’t even fighting. In fact his fight was months away but they came along."

“Outside the venue, there was an army of them and they all either knew Pat or knew someone who knew him. It doesn’t really matter which because the fact they came along shows the connection was there and that’s down to him as a bloke. The kind of person he is.”

“When I arrived outside with Pat I could see him thinking ‘Bloody hell,’ so I told him, ‘Just you wait until you’re actually fighting because I don’t reckon you’ve seen anything yet,’” Hearn continued.

"That happened and then the tickets (for his upcoming bout) sold out like that too."

“The fighting, that’s normal for these guys. That’s what they do. The stuff surrounding it, that’s not usually within their comfort zone coming through but Pat is going to have to get used to it because it’s going to grow and grow and grow."

“He can deal with it because, even in the amateurs, these people were behind him all the way. From debut, if we do it right, then I don’t think many people understand just how big he can be or how loyal his fans are."

"I can already tell - and we don’t take this for granted, certainly - that they’ll follow him anywhere. That’s because he’s one of them, not a made up character or social media star."

"What Pat has got -and we’ve seen this with people like (Josh) Warrington, (Anthony) Crolla and Hatton - is just very, very real.”

HEAVY INVESTMENT

Brown, aged 25, faces Vladimir Reznicek at Planet Ice on March 28 - eight months after representing his country during the games in Paris. 

Expected to dispatch the durable Czech, Hearn and trainer Jamie Moore then plan to arrange two more contests for their man before the end of the year.

Explaining why he has invested so heavily in the former national and North-West amateur champion, Hearn said: “When you give someone a job, you give them an interview and during that, often, something just strikes you. I already knew about Pat’s ability and I’d met him briefly before."

“But when his manager Sam (Jones) brought him into the office, I thought, It’s you. You’re the one."

“The more we talked, the more we spoke, the more certain I was. And if I do something, then I like to do it properly."

“There’s a lot of aggravation in this business. The most enjoyable part is developing young fighters."

"Especially ones like Pat, who you know have got the skills, the character and the popularity on top of those two things.”