There might be light at the end of the tunnel for the ongoing war between Eddie Hearn and Dana White.
For the past few months, and especially over the last few weeks, Hearn and White have been embroiled in heated back-and-forth through the media surrounding the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua superfight that takes place in December. The beef has largely been about White’s involvement in the fight, and speaking with Ariel Helwani on Tuesday, Hearn gave his latest update on the drama.
“Probably the biggest problem here is that Netflix and TKO don’t necessarily understand our contract, and the strength of it,” Hearn said. “They’re just not working together. And whether it’s untoward or whether it’s planned, whatever it is, when that press release went out, obviously shit hit the fan. Because it’s like, you do understand that this would be a breach of the agreement? Netflix were like, ‘Whoa, it’s not our agreement.’ And then that put the fight in jeopardy.
“This could have been resolved many, many, many weeks ago, but people’s arrogance, and people’s refusal to acknowledge a contract, and actually just tell the truth, changed the game and the direction of this situation and this fight. …
“I’m happy to sit down, but after everything you’ve said, your attitude, and the bigger war that is ensuing in boxing, it’s not going to play out the way you thought it was going to play out,” Hearn added. “And I needed to make sure that they know what we’re about. I needed to make sure that I got their attention. … We weren’t gonna let them run us over. It’s just not in the DNA.”
While Hearn may be ready to hash things out, White has seemed uninterested in doing so, at least in public, instead continuing to insist that he is involved in the fight already. And in yet another attempted olive branch from Hearn, he says that he’s not even opposed to White and TKO stepping in to produce the show, but it needs to be discussed, not foisted upon them.
“Whoever Netflix uses,” Hearn said when asked who would handle the event production. “Who was it they used, Whisper, last time? You have the Jake Paul events. There’s a series of major events that have taken place on Netflix before. And by the way, I don’t necessarily care if TKO produces the event, but contractually, it’s a breach.
“So, you can’t just have the arrogance to just presume you can go ahead, and now start going out and saying, ‘Well, I’m not the promoter, but I’m now the producer.’ You can’t. It’s under the same clause in the agreement.
“So, we’ll have to deal with that. But I’m not — it’s really only their attitude that’s making this what it is. Because if you reach out to me — and people will tell you — we’ll talk. And maybe we’ll find a deal.”
For Hearn, much of this battle is an issue of respect, and White’s apparent lack of it, as the two have been battling all year since White moved into the boxing space with Zuffa Boxing.
“Like I said before, it might be the case if we allow it,” Hearn said. “And I’m not against it. I don’t really care who produces the event. It’s not my fight. I’ve got a fighter in the fight. But I also know what we signed, where we stand contractually, and because of what’s happened, how I’m going to react if someone comes up there and tries to go, ‘Oh yeah, well, we’re doing this, we’re doing that. How do you feel about that?!’
“It’s like child’s play, but it’s gonna make me be childish as well, because that’s the ego of the war that we’re in. And they would do the same. Of course they would.”
Mostly though, Hearn believes this entire push from White is simply a way to cover up that Zuffa Boxing has not delivered everything White promised at the outset. Though Zuffa has had a hand in a few major fights this year, most of its events have not garnered serious attention, and Hearn says White is trying to use his connections to Turki Alalshikh — who is financing Fury-Joshua — to boost Zuffa’s profile amid a poor start to the promotion.
“Turki Alalshikh owns Zuffa Boxing. He’s the biggest shareholder in Zuffa,” Hearn said. “Of course he’s gonna want to see those guys do well. He’s going to want to see an impressive body of work. And the issue is at the moment, it’s a disaster, and this gives them an automatic leg up, to give a perception to the world that, ‘We are the biggest promoters in the world, because look at what we’re promoting! The biggest fight in boxing!’ …
“You had nothing to do with this fight. You’re using this fight to pretend that your ‘body of work’ that you keep talking about is impressive. But when you actually strip it back, as we say in the U.K., fur coat, no knickers. And that’s what Zuffa is. …
“I’m sorry, with that money, with that contract, with those connections to Turki Alalshikh, let’s be honest, the first 10 months have been absolutely abysmal.”
