Eddie Hearn mocks Zuffa Boxing after Shakur Stevenson leaves.
Promotion driven by
Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana Whitesigned with Stevenson in July. However, the boxing star has secured his release without fighting for the organization.
Eddie Hearn calls Shakur Stevenson’s departure before his Zuffa Boxing debut humiliating
Hearn criticized White for leaving Stevenson. The head of Matchroom Boxing 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 last night and texted me, I thought it was all just some kind of stunt because it was so bad, so embarrassing, so humiliating for Zuffa that I thought it couldn’t be real. Because it happened and literally in 30 seconds I got 50 messages. ‘Oh my God, you’ve seen this Zuffplodingauff’s this Zuffaffaff.’ Dana White’s head falls off. What the hell. And I thought, no, that can’t be right. Like, how can you sign your highest profile fighter and then he won’t even fight you? I don’t think that’s ever happened in the history of boxing. Tell me about a time when a promoter has signed a great pound-for-pound contract, the biggest contract they’ve ever signed, and he’s walked out before he’s even fought. This has never happened.”
Hearn continued to mock White and Zuffa Boxing, referring to the UFC executive’s promises about what the promotion would achieve by the end of the year.
“When Dana White talks about the history that Zuffa is going to make, the work that you’re going to see at the end of the year, one thing I’ll give Zuffa: They’ve made history there by actually signing a fighter and never giving him a fight,” Hearn added. “So it’s a great job. Of course we dine on it, don’t we? Because they would do the same thing.”
Hearn and White have also feuded over White’s role in the upcoming fight Tyson Fury
and Anthony Joshuawhich is scheduled for December 11 at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. White has said he will be involved in the production of the show, while Hearn claims an existing contract prevents such involvement without an agreed change.
