Eddie Hearn is having a good day.
On Monday, pound-for-pound boxing great Shakur Stevenson secured his release from Zuffa Boxing without ever having fought for the promotion. Stevenson was arguably the biggest signing in the promotion’s short history, and parting ways with him before he even had one fight is a tough look for Zuffa Boxing and UFC CEO Dana White. And Hearn is loving it.
“Unbelievable. I thought it was a publicity stunt, to be honest with you,” Hearn toldiFL 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.’ 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 where 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.
“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. 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. I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘Ha ha, you lot are finished. Zuffa’s done. You’re an embarrassment. You got no credibility with fighters or fans. You haven’t done a show in America since July, and you’ve done some rank shows in the U.K. You’ve got nothing planned for the rest of the year. I think you’ve given up before you’ve started.’ I’m not gonna say any of that. But obviously, at the same time, you’ve got to be looking at it and smirking and going, ‘This is f*cking easy work, baby.’ I mean, what is going on?”
Hearn and White have been feuding for much of 2026, since White moved into The Sweet Science with Zuffa Boxing. Hearn has repeatedly said that White and Zuffa don’t understand the boxing business, and in the wake of this latest development, he’s taking a victory lap.
“They don’t know what they’re doing,” Hearn said. “Don’t put your career and your legacy in the hands of non-boxing people that have no idea what they’re doing. And Devin Haney is as smart as they come, because you know what? Something in his mind, something in his belly said, ‘This ain’t the move for me,’ and he went a done a deal with DAZN, and now Shakur Stevenson will probably do the same thing.
“Devin Haney has not boxed since November 2025. Shakur Stevenson has not boxed since January 2026. These are the pound-for-pound greats of the sport. Come on, boys, let’s get active. Let’s fight each other. Don’t just look at some stupid offer that doesn’t make sense to lure you in, and then what? You sign with them, and four months later you don’t even have a fight, or even a fight scheduled.
“So listen, fair play to Shakur Stevenson, because he had the balls to go, ‘This is not the place for me. These people, they don’t know what they’re doing. I need to get out before my career is ruined.’ And he made that move, and his team made that move, and now he’s got to see what’s next.”
The Stevenson release is just the latest in a tough run for Zuffa. The promotion has struggled to gain traction in the boxing community, and one of its biggest signings, Conor Benn — who previously was promoted by Hearn — got destroyed by Ryan Garcia in their fight in September.
“Then you sign Conor Benn, get him smashed to pieces,” Hearn said. “You sign Shakur Stevenson, and you can’t even deliver him a fight. They have not done a show in America for five months, and they won’t do one for six or seven months in America. Please, somebody, play those interviews now and tell me, ‘Judge us by the end of the year and watch our body of work.’ Awful. Disaster. Monstrosity. Embarrassment. Capitulation. Capillary-busting. Blood pressure-rushing. And in the words of one of my old nemeses, I think just 10 months in, it’s all over, rover.”
Hearn doesn’t quite believe that Zuffa Boxing is done. The promotion is co-owned by Turki Alalshikh and Sela, the Saudi Arabian entertainment company. As such, they have plenty of funds to stay active in boxing, but Hearn believes this will be a big setback.
“They’ll be back, but they’ve shown their true colors,” Hearn said. “They know nothing about boxing, they know nothing about developing the career of a fighter, and if you sign with Zuffa boxing, you might as well get your legacy, rip it up, and put it in the bin. That’s the reality. So, if you want to do that for a few quid, and maybe fight once a year —or maybe in the case of Shakur Stevenson, not even fight — no problem. You take the leap.”
