Hearn reveals Zuffa received two cease-and-desist letters within a few days.
Zuffa Boxing was the result of UFC boss Dana White’s first genuine foray in the world of professional pugilism. Of course, being experienced in promoting MMA, he possesses a large profile in combat sports.
However, any fan of boxing knew that the two sports were not the same. A big concern heading in was the difference in pay that the fighters from both professions receive, with boxers’ purses generally being considerably higher.
This is something that has been brought up again recently, following the news that Conor Benn would be receiving $15 million for his fight in April against Regis Prograis.
Regardless, Zuffa was always going to be met with a degree of skepticism, especially given their stated intentions of getting rid of the four major world titles of the sport.
However, the league has been met with even more trouble than anyone could have imagined. Its very existence led to Frank Warren filing a lawsuit against Sela and TKO, claiming that they breached contract by forming Zuffa.
Just last week, Boxxer’s Ben Shalom filed a lawsuit against the company for allegedly signing fighters who were still under contract with them, and it was revealed just two days ago that Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions had issued a cease-and-desist letter to Zuffa over a fight between Conor Benn and Ryan Garcia.
And in an interview with iFL TV earlier today, Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn revealed that DAZN sent a cease-and-desist of their own a couple of days prior to Golden Boy’s.
Referring to recent comments Dana White made on the streaming platform, Hearn stated, “The reason he’s thrown his toys out the pram about DAZN is because three or four days ago, DAZN issued a cease-and-desist on Dana White for talkin’ to Ryan Garcia, because Ryan Garcia is under an exclusive contract with DAZN. So, Dana actually had two cease-and-desists: one from Golden Boy and Oscar De La Hoya and one from DAZN.”
What this means is that Zuffa has been involved in legal disputes with every major promoter in Britain and one of the most major from America, and it only had its first show earlier this year.
It should be interesting to see what direction the rumoured Garcia-Benn bout will take from here, as it appears only one party is currently on board with it.
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