Eddie Hearn is mocking Zuffa Boxing after Shakur Stevenson’s
departure.
The promotion, headed by
Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana
White, signed Stevenson in July. However, the boxing star has
secured his release without fighting for the organization.
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Eddie Hearn calls Shakur Stevenson’s departure before Zuffa
Boxing debut ‚humiliating‘
Hearn criticized White over Stevenson’s departure. The Matchroom
Boxing chairman said he initially thought the news was a publicity
stunt.
“Unbelievable, I thought it was a publicity stunt, to be honest
with you,” Hearn told iFL TV. “Like, until Shakur’s team called me,
messaged me last night, I thought it was all just some kind of
stunt for an announcement, because it was so bad, so embarrassing,
so humiliating for Zuffa, that I thought it can’t be real. Because
it happened, and literally within 30 seconds I had 50 messages. ‘Oh
my God, have you seen this? Zuffa’s finished. Zuffa’s imploding.
Dana White’s head falling off.’ What the f*ck. And I thought, nah,
this can’t be right. Like, how can you sign your most high-profile
fighter, and then he leaves you without even fighting? I don’t
think, in the history of boxing, that has ever happened. Tell me a
time when a promoter has signed a pound-for-pound great, the
biggest signing they’ve ever signed, and he has left before he’s
even fought. That has never happened.”
Hearn continued to mock White and Zuffa Boxing, citing the UFC
executive’s promises about what the promotion would accomplish by
the end of the year.
“When Dana White says about the history that Zuffa is gonna make,
the body of work that you’re going to see by the end of the year,
one thing I will give it to Zuffa: they have made history there by
actually signing a fighter and never giving him a fight,” Hearn
added. “So that’s some great body of work there. Of course we’re
going to dine out on it, aren’t we? Because they would do the same
thing.”
Hearn and White have also clashed over White’s role in the upcoming
fight between Tyson Fury
and Anthony
Joshua, scheduled for Dec. 11 at Principality Stadium in
Cardiff, Wales. White has said he will be involved in producing the
broadcast, while Hearn maintains that the existing contract
prevents such involvement without an agreed change.