Eddie Hearn is used to see his fighters stripping down for the media glare when they weigh in for the fights he promotes. He wasn’t used to doing it himself, until now.
Hearn, probably the world’s biggest boxing promoter right now, is making headlines for another reason as the cover star on the latest edition of Men’s Health magazine, charting his amazing journey.
‘Educating Eddie’, as magazine staffers have named the project, has seen the 44-year-old lose weight and increase muscle – and for a very good reason.
Two years ago, after Hearn and his Matchroom Boxing operation negotiated a huge deal to leave the comfy confines of Sky Sports for streaming platform DAZN, Hearn didn’t like what he staring back at him in the mirror. His workload was crazy and it was taking a physical toll, quite literally.
Eddie Hearn gets ripped
He admitted to Men’s Health: “The workload trebled, and I just thought to myself, one, you can’t do this for very long if you continue living the same lifestyle, and two, you might die.
“As extreme as that sounds, I’ve got a history of heart problems in the family. I’ve got a job that’s full of stress. I’m not really sleeping. My diet’s shit. I’m not training that much. I’m overweight. It’s all the classic signs of a short lifespan.’
Hearn duly starting running regularly (again, he’d completed a marathon in the past) and lost a couple of stones, but he was still ‘puny’ to use his own parlance. The next step, one taken in the last 12 months, was a plan to build muscle.
Eddie said: “I always said that the reason my arms are so small and I don’t have any muscle mass is down to my genetics. I always used that as an excuse because my dad’s not really a big guy either. But it’s actually a load of rubbish.”
The other problem the boxing promoter had, he hated the gym, admitting: “There were a few times in my twenties where all the boys would go down the weightlifting gym, but I just hated it. When you’re not very good at something, you don’t really want to do it. I stuck to running because I thought, I’m not bad at running. I’m a big bloke, but I can do a 24- or 25-minute 5K.”
Spectacular results for Eddie
Hearn committed to a proper and regular training plan, and coupled it with a diet to match. The results are astonishing – he has shaved a couple of minutes off his already decent 5k time, and he can now press 40kg dumbbells with ease. It’s improved his life in many ways.
“As someone who’s been trying to lose weight for years, carbs were just the complete enemy. If I could go a whole day without eating carbs that would be a massive win for me.
“I’ve been fuelling myself for training, which is different from starving myself for training, and that’s exactly what I used to do.”
