Zuffa Boxing and UFC boss Dana White is seemingly ducking a fight against promotional rival Eddie Hearn that could bank both executives an eight-figure payday each, and the Matchroom chairman has only one message for the Boston bruiser.
Now who’s the p****?
The foul language is, of course, a call-back to the wording White reserved for Hearn as he appeared to grow weary of the Brit’s media rounds in the immediate aftermath of losing Conor Benn to Zuffa in a stunning $15 million, one-fight deal. The signing since re-upped to a 2.5-year, five-fight contract following Benn’s lackadaisical decision win over near-retiree Regis Prograis.
The only person Hearn publicly blamed for losing the talent was himself, conceding that the mistake he made was forgetting that boxing was boxing. He then moved to fix other gaps in Matchroom’s business, learning from that very mistake.
“The only thing that can stop the fight happening is Dana White,” Eddie Hearn told reporters following Benjamin Whittaker’s win Saturday over Braian Suarez.
Whittaker thrashed Suarez in the first round of the catchweight bout atop a Matchroom event DAZN aired from the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England.
But, following the fight, the attention at the post-event presser wasn’t just on Whittaker’s imminent future in the ring, but his promoter’s.
“Really the truth of the matter is — [Dana White is] backing out of the fight that he called on,” Hearn told the media.
“So who’s the p**** now? Where have your balls gone?”
— Eddie Hearn, expressing concern over the whereabouts of Dana White’s testicles
“You can’t keep calling me a p**** when you call me out for a fight, and I accept the fight, and you say, ‘We’re bums’ — what the f*** is that?”
Hearn believes the bout is big business despite White’s attempt to play it down as an insult to prelim fighters.
“We would main event and sell out a massive stadium, and if it’s on DAZN … we’d do [big numbers]. Do you not think we’d sell out the O2 Arena and do a million pay-per-view buys, globally?”
Hearn is not alone in his comments considering he said Kalle Sauerland made an eight-figure offer, before claiming he was holding out for $30 million, amid interest from other backers. If White were paid the same, the purses alone would be $60 million.
“Don’t forget, he is a big name — some say bigger than me,” he said, perhaps a nod to White’s seat at the Meta boardroom and his prominent alliance with the United States President Donald Trump.
“You’ve got the American audience, you’ve got the UK audience. Could you imagine how I would sell this show? Oh my God. Anyway.
“I do think about it on every run, in bed every night. I’ve picked my ring walk. I’ve actually designed my robe. But it will probably just be fantasy because Dana White backed out of the fight.”
