Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn can help but grin while taking at least some pleasure in Zuffa Boxing struggling as of late, and watching Dana White squirm under the pressure. Check out some of what he had to say as he believes we may in fact be in the end days of Zuffa Boxing as a relevant company in this business.
Hearn on Dana White’s recent struggles in the boxing business
“I said when these guys come into boxing, ‘you are not going to enjoy this.’ Because when you’ve operated like those guys have, with total control and the ability to mute media, to do what you want and just to have people say yes — boxing is so much different. You’re not going to get your own way, you’re going to get faced with criticism, the media ask much tougher questions, and you will not enjoy it.
“Well, that’s the understatement of the year because they have had an absolute disaster, Zuffa. They’ve had the worst start they could ever have in the sport. The UFC business is in terrible decline. Even the ratings for WWE are down. But also, you can see how it’s affecting Dana. He’s forgetting things, he’s getting flustered. And I know I joke about the blood pressure and the capillaries, but it’s for real.
“I don’t want to sound facetious but I’ve almost go to the point where I feel sorry for him now…It’s just done. It’s over. So, I think Zuffa Boxing, I think they might be finished already. They have not done a show in America since July. It’s November next week. They’ve done one show in the UK which, let’s be honest, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, was awful. They’ve got another one coming up which is bang average. Ben Shalom’s shows are 5x better, 10x better than Zuffa shows.
“So, what are they going to do? For a six month period they are not doing one show in America, and they’re doing two bang average shows in the UK. These guys don’t know what they’re doing. I think they’re done. Everyone’s gone quiet. Shakur Stevenson’s left before he’s even had a fight — that’s a PR disaster.
“I expected these guys to be better at what they do. But I didn’t expect it to affect them so badly and for it to start — you can see the physical breakdown, the mental and emotional breakdown of what is happening when [Dana’s] up there [at the press conferences]. You can see it’s like affecting him. And this is a horrible, horrible business. That’s why I feel almost bad for those guys because I know what it’s like. You have to become really battle worn to it…I was expecting a real fight [out of them], but I think they’re done.”