Eddie Hearn actually might not care if Dana White is involved in the Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua superfight. He just refuses to let the UFC CEO to dictate terms.
Hearn, whose Matchroom Boxing manages Joshua, and White have engaged in a war of words ever since fight was announced in a Netflix-issued press release that stated White was a promoter. Hearn was quick to shoot that down and has stood firm on the fact that Joshua's contract stipulates neither White nor Zuffa Boxing nor TKO can be involved.
After not appearing at the launch press conference to promote Fury vs. Joshua, White added a new wrinkle by saying he, through TKO, would be producing the Dec. 14 event at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. That was met by Hearn posting a video
on social media debunking all the claims White has made about the fight since June, including that it would take place at Madison Square Garden.
During a Tuesday interview on "The Ariel Helwani Show," Hearn had more to say about the situation.
"I don't necessarily care if TKO produces the event, but contractually it's a breach," Hearn said. "You can't just have the arrogance to presume you can go ahead and now start saying, 'I'm not the promoter, but I'm now the producer.' You can't be. It's under the same clause in the agreement. It's really only their attitude that's making this what it is. Because if you reach out to me, we'll talk – and maybe we'll find a deal."
Hearn said that he has meetings planned with Netflix and Sela later this week in Los Angeles, meetings that White recently said he knew nothing about. Hearn expressed a willingness to sit down and talk with White about Fury vs. Joshua, and at least seemed open to the idea of letting him be part of the fight.
That could make things easier, with Turki Al-Sheikh caught in the middle. Al-Sheikh, through Sela, is financing the fight. He's long worked with Hearn on putting on big fights and is now in business with White and Zuffa Boxing as its primary stakeholder.
Hearn understands that Al-Sheikh's wish was for White to be involved, but he's firm on not ignoring the agreement he and Joshua signed.
"You just think you should just sign a contract and ignore it? Who are these people? These people are morons," Hearn said of critics who think he should give into White. "'Oh, just allow it.' What's the point in having a contract? What's the point in allowing someone to sit up there and goad you, try and mug you off, try and take this fight away from Britain? ... You have no idea how the British public feel about you trying to take this fight from the U.K. You couldn't think of anything worse than doing this fight in the U.K., and now you have to see this fight in the U.K. And if you have any involvement, for us allowing that, you have to come to the U.K. in front of all those people who know you didn't want to do the fight here."
Ultimately, Hearn is hip to what he believes is transpiring – and that's White and Zuffa Boxing wanting to make their name off perhaps the biggest fight of the year.
"Turki Al-Sheikh owns Zuffa Boxing. He's the biggest shareholder in Zuffa. Of course he's going to want to see those guys do well," Hearn said. "He's going to want to see an impressive body of work. And the issue is that at the moment it's a disaster, and this gives them an automatic leg up to give a perception to the world, 'We are the biggest promoters in the world, because look at what we're promoting, the biggest fight in boxing.' Do you think I'm gonna allow you just to walk in and pretend that you have involvement in this fight when there's one guy (Joshua) that we represent, another guy (Fury) that Frank Warren and Gold Star represent? You have 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., one of my favorite quotes, 'fur coat, no knickers.' ...
"It's a game of bluff. And boxing fans just aren't stupid. You can't just go out there with all these impressive people and tell everyone this product is sensational. Because it's not."
As of now, the fight is still on. Whether it remains that way depends on how far White wants to take the situation. One thing's for sure, though: Hearn isn't about to roll over.
"I think they have this perception that they're just this massive powerhouse that can steamroll everybody that they want to steamroll because of the success they've had in the past," Hearn said. "Listen, maybe I'm just deluded, but I will fight like a son of a b*tch every single second of the day. Because understand this: This sport, my family business, it ain't a game. It's not like some little shared prize. It's my heart, my soul, my life. ...
"This can go one of two ways: You might see in a week's time, two weeks there's an announcement of some kind, or it might get worse and worse and worse and worse. Like I said, either way it's cool. I'm calm."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Eddie Hearn says Dana White playing 'game of bluff' with Fury-Joshua assertions
