Eddie Hearn addresses imminent ‘war’ talks with Dana White

The promoters remain far from peace.

Eddie Hearn and Dana White have been embroiled in a bitter back-and-forth ever since the UFC CEO ventured into boxing.

White launched Zuffa Boxing late last year, but his rivalry with Hearn reached new heights when he poached Conor Benn in February.

Benn was previously signed to Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing before he penned the deal stateside.

The tensions have escalated further after White recently claimed he would be leading the promotion for Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury.

Following his comments, both Hearn and Queensberry Promotion’s Frank Warren have since insisted that Zuffa cannot be involved contractually.

Although Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh has called for both sides to hold “peace talks” to settle the dispute.

Is Eddie Hearn open to peace talks?

Hearn told talkSPORT: “Turki Alalshikh has asked to have a meeting with me and a few other members of the boxing community.

“He calls them peace talks, which we will definitely entertain out of respect.

“Whether we co-operate or not depends on how I feel on the day and whether it is in the best interest of myself, Matchroom and AJ…

“The Dana stuff, I know you guys like it.

“But if Turki comes to me [to discuss getting Dana White involved], it’s not a conversation I’m interested in…

“I don’t care who he is backed by; you’re as good as you are, and he isn’t anywhere near my league.

“All this talk about peace talks, I’ve got to be honest with you, I don’t want peace talks.

“I want war talks because I had 15 years of war, and it was the greatest time of my career.

“And now we are all playing nice. I’m glad we do because I like going out to dinner with Frank and George [Warren].

“But it’s boring, Jim. I know what you guys want. You guys want beef.

“You want the violence in and out of the ring.

“So for me, when we have those meetings next week that Turki Alalshikh wants, it is not just a case of us having a photo with all our hands in the middle, I want to see who is the best.”

Further context:

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Turki Alalshikh calls out Dua Lipa for declining Fury-Joshua show The boxing tycoon made his opinions clear this week.