Dana White and Eddie Hearn agree to meet up as their battle for promotional supremacy in American boxing ramps up.
Eddie Hearn agreed to meet his newest promotional competitor Dana White of Zuffa Boxing.
The pair have been involved in a back and forth media squabble, ever since Dana White launched Zuffa Boxing, under the banner of the TKO group.
TKO run the UFC, and WWE.
Zuffa Boxing is their project to monopolise the sport of boxing.
Dana White’s plans are to disregard the sports existing promoters, as well as disregarding the sports recognised major governing bodies, the WBC, WBO, IBF and WBA.
They have a vision of replicating a similar model to the UFC, where they create a Zuffa belt allowing them to make internal fights for their own recognised title.
Zuffa boxing was officially launched last Friday with their inaugural show taking place last Friday at the UFC apex in Las Vegas.
Their most prominent signing thus far is former Matchroom boxer and IBF and Ring Magazine cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia.
Chairman and promoter of Matchroom Boxing Eddie Hearn has publicly shared his thoughts on Zuffa boxing on a number of occasions.
Speaking on the Ariel Helwani show, Hearn discussed Zuffa’s first show stating “They are a well oiled machine, the expectancy is of the precedent they have set, which is fantastic product and fantastic business”.
“I didn’t watch the show”.
“It looked basic, to the naked eye it probably lacked ambition”.
“If I did a show like that, with that card, in that atmosphere, I would be ridiculed for months”.
When speaking on the Zuffa Belt, Hearn stated “The fighters want legacy, they want championship belts”.
“Belts are legacy, young fighters don’t want to fight for a Zuffa belt”.
“Maybe I’m just a hardcore boxing fan, it’s like me doing a Matchroom belt. No, it’s naff, it’s cringe”.
The pair both had events in Las Vegas on the weekend, where the two businessmen agreed to meet, due to Hearn having to fly out to New York early due to weather problems, nothing materialised in the end.
Hearn declared “I messaged Dana to meet up, maybe part of it was an experiment to see, but Dana has always been very good to me, but now we’re competitors”.
“Things have changed now, but we can still get on”.
“He messaged to meet yesterday, but we had to catch a flight to New York”.
It is uncertain at this moment whether Hearn and White will work with each other in the future as Zuffa’s strategy in the sport remains unclear at this stage.
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