Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry 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 a comprehensive broadcasting agreement in the United Kingdom with Sky Sports.
Cue sports
Matchroom Sport entered snooker event management in the 1980s. They had players such as Steve Davis, Dennis Taylor, and Jimmy White under contract.
Matchroom expanded into other cue sports, organising a World Professional Pool Championship for nine-ball pool in Cardiff, Wales, in July 1999. The following year, that tournament merged with the annual WPA World Nine-ball Championship, the most prestigious professional tournament, under the auspices of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). Matchroom remains a principal sponsor and even organizer.
Matchroom's other prestigious pool event is the Mosconi Cup, held each December from 1994 onwards. The event is modelled on the Ryder Cup in golf, and pits a team of European players against a team from the United States. Since 2003, the event has alternated between European and American venues, having previous always been held in the UK.
The Mosconi Cup is notable for having evolved from an exhibition event in the early years, into a genuinely prestigious tournament. Early Mosconi Cup contests were characterised by a team of some of America's most charismatic players taking on a European team of mainly British snooker players, in an attempt to promote nine-ball in the UK. More recent instances of the event have been fought in a much more serious manner, although the raucous crowd atmosphere has been retained, making it unique among cue sports competitions.
Matchroom sports also promote the World Cup of Pool, a national team scotch doubles event, and the World Pool Masters an annual nine-ball event.[2]
Ten-pin bowling
Matchroom has been involved in a revival of the sport of ten-pin bowling which has given the sport a renewed international pop-culture interest.
With a roster of the world's three major bowling events – the World Tenpin Masters, the Weber Cup and the AMF World Cup – Matchroom Sport has established a successful formula for presenting televised bowling. All three events are presented by broadcasters Nick Halling and Cass Edwards.
Boxing
Current stable
| Boxer | Nationality | Weight | Signed | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikita Ababiy |  American | Middleweight | 17 July 2018 | ||
| Murodjon Akhmadaliev |  Uzbekistan | Bantamweight | 25 April 2019 | ||
| Dave Allen |  English | Heavyweight | |||
| Demetrius Andrade | American | Middleweight | 17 July 2018 | WBO middleweight champion | |
| Qais Ashfaq | English | Bantamweight | 1 February 2018 | ||
| Martin Bakole |  Congolese | Heavyweight | 10 July 2019 | ||
| Zelfa Barrett | English | Super-featherweight | March 2020 | Commonwealth super-featherweight champion | |
| Reece Bellotti | English | Featherweight | 30 June 2015 | ||
| Conor Benn | English | Welterweight | 30 March 2016 | ||
| Chris Billam-Smith | English | Cruiserweight | Commonwealth cruiserweight champion | ||
| Dmitry Bivol |  Russian | Light-heavyweight | 15 January 2019 | WBA light-heavyweight champion | |
| Arthur Biyarslanov | .svg.png){kind=small} Canadian | Light-welterweight | 29 March 2019 | ||
| Cecilia Brækhus |  Norwegian | Welterweight | 22 October 2019 | ||
| Kell Brook | English | Light-middleweight | 8 April 2011 | ||
| Joshua Buatsi | English | Light-heavyweight | 5 June 2017 | ||
| Ricky Burns |  Scottish | Lightweight | 11 March 2013 | ||
| Chantelle Cameron | English | Light-welterweight | WBC Light-Welterweight Champion | ||
| Luke Campbell | English | Lightweight | 23 April 2013 | ||
| Felix Cash | English | Middleweight | 11 May 2016 | Commonwealth middleweight champion | |
| Marc Castro | American | Featherweight | |||
| Ted Cheeseman | English | Light-middleweight | 9 April 2015 | British light-middleweight champion | |
| Souleymane Cissokho |  French | Light-middleweight | |||
| Kieron Conway | English | Light-middleweight | 12 July 2019 | ||
| Joe Cordina | .svg.jpg){kind=small} Welsh | Lightweight | 1 February 2017 | British and Commonwealth lightweight champion | |
| Shannon Courtenay | English | Super-featherweight | |||
| Jamie Cox | English | Middleweight | 22 April 2017 | ||
| John Docherty | Scottish | Super-middleweight | 11 July 2018 | ||
| Sam Eggington | English | Light-middleweight | 1 October 2014 | ||
| Alexis Espino | American | Middleweight | 28 October 2018 | ||
| Juan Francisco Estrada |  Mexican | Super-flyweight | 28 June 2019 | WBC & The Ring super-flyweight champion | |
| Tevin Farmer | American | Super-featherweight | 23 August 2018 | ||
| Ukashir Farooq | English | Bantamweight | |||
| Aqib Fiaz | English | Lightweight | |||
| Rocky Fielding | English | Super-middleweight | 6 June 2012 | ||
| Scott Fitzgerald | English | Light-middleweight | 21 September 2015 | British light-middleweight champion | |
| Raymond Ford | American | Super-featherweight | |||
| Anthony Fowler | English | Light-middleweight | 20 April 2017 | ||
| Charles Frankham | English | Featherweight | 14 January 2019 | ||
| Hughie Fury | English | Heavyweight | 26 July 2019 | ||
| Kid Galahad | English | Featherweight | |||
| Jordan Gill | English | Featherweight | 29 October 2018 | ||
| Shakhram Giyasov | Uzbekistan | Welterweight | 25 April 2019 | ||
| Devin Haney | American | Lightweight | 25 April 2019 | WBC lightweight champion | |
| Terri Harper | English | Super-featherweight | 24 September 2019 | WBC, and IBO female super-featherweight champion | |
| John Hedges | English | Super-Middleweight | |||
| Filip Hrgović |  Croatian | Heavyweight | 14 February 2019 | ||
| Daniel Jacobs | American | Middleweight | 23 September 2017 | ||
| Callum Johnson | Scottish | Light-heavyweight | 30 June 2015 | ||
| Natasha Jonas | English | Lightweight | 20 June 2017 | ||
| Otha Jones III | American | Welterweight | 16 January 2019 | ||
| Anthony Joshua | English | Heavyweight | 24 July 2013 | WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight champion | |
| Josh Kelly | English | Welterweight | 8 February 2017 | ||
| Israil Madrimov | Uzbekistan | Light-middleweight | 7 March 2019 | ||
| Magomedrasul Majidov | Uzbekistan | Heavyweight | 10 September 2019 | ||
| Savannah Marshall | English | Super-middleweight | 1 August 2019 | ||
| Julio Cesar Martinez | Mexican | Flyweight | 11 October 2019 | WBC flyweight champion | |
| Reshat Mati | American | Lightweight | 17 July 2018 | ||
| Lawrence Okolie | English | Cruiserweight | 18 January 2017 | European cruiserweight champion | |
| Diego Pacheco | American | Middleweight | 5 October 2018 | ||
| Joseph Parker |  New Zealander | Heavyweight | 31 May 2019 | ||
| Hopey Price | English | Super-bantamweight | 11 October 2018 | ||
| Craig Richards | English | Light-heavyweight | |||
| Lewis Ritson | English | Light-welterweight | 10 October 2017 | ||
| Srisaket Sor Rungvisai |  Thai | Super-flyweight | 30 January 2019 | ||
| John Ryder | English | Super-middleweight | |||
| Billy Joe Saunders | English | Super-middleweight | 13 August 2019 | WBO super-middleweight champion | |
| Ellie Scotney | English | Featherweight | |||
| Lee Selby | Welsh | Lightweight | |||
| Amanda Serrano |  Puerto Rican | Featherweight | 28 October 2018 | WBO and WBC interim female champion | |
| Anthony Sims Jr. | American | Light-heavyweight | 1 August 2018 | ||
| Callum Smith | English | Super-middleweight | 3 October 2012 | WBA (Super) & The Ring super middleweight champion | |
| Dalton Smith | English | Light-welterweight | 21 March 2019 | ||
| Liam Smith | English | Light-middleweight | 9 January 2019 | ||
| Katie Taylor |  Irish | Lightweight | 27 October 2016 | WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO & The Ring female lightweight champion | |
| James Tennyson |  Northern Irish | Lightweight | |||
| Oleksandr Usyk |  Ukrainian | Heavyweight | 7 September 2018 | ||
| Jessie Vargas | American | Light-middleweight | 17 July 2018 | ||
| Josh Warrington | English | Featherweight | February 2020 | IBF featherweight champion | |
| Martin Joseph Ward | English | Super-featherweight | 31 May 2012 | ||
| Fabio Wardley | English | Heavyweight | |||
| Dillian Whyte | English | Heavyweight | 20 May 2016 | ||
| Thomas Whittaker Hart | English | Light-Heavyweight | |||
| Austin Williams | American | Middleweight | 26 February 2019 | ||
| Gamal Yafai | English | Super-bantamweight | |||
| Khalid Yafai | English | Super-flyweight | 14 May 2012 | WBA super-flyweight champion | |
| Daniyar Yeleussinov |  Kazakhstani | Welterweight | 5 March 2018 | ||
| Zhang Zhilei |  Chinese | Heavyweight |
References
- ^ "Companies beginning with 'ma'". CheckSure.biz. Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire: ROIsure Digital. 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
- ^ "World Pool Masters Archives - Matchroom Pool". Matchroom Pool. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
- ^ "Boxers Archive - Matchroom Boxing". Matchroom Boxing.