The promotion, headed by Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White, signed Stevenson in July. However, the boxing star has secured his release without fighting for the organization.
Eddie Hearn calls Shakur Stevenson's departure before Zuffa Boxing debut 'humiliating'
Hearn criticized White over Stevenson’s departure. The Matchroom Boxing chairman said he initially thought the news was a publicity stunt.
“Unbelievable, I thought it was a publicity stunt, to be honest with you,” Hearn told iFL TV. “Like, until Shakur’s team called me, messaged me last night, I thought it was all just some kind of stunt for an announcement, because it was so bad, so embarrassing, so humiliating for Zuffa, that I thought it can’t be real. Because it happened, and literally within 30 seconds I had 50 messages. ‘Oh my God, have you seen this? Zuffa’s finished. Zuffa’s imploding. Dana White’s head falling off.’ What the f*ck. And I thought, nah, this can’t be right. Like, how can you sign your most high-profile fighter, and then he leaves you without even fighting? I don’t think, in the history of boxing, that has ever happened. Tell me a time when a promoter has signed a pound-for-pound great, the biggest signing they’ve ever signed, and he has left before he’s even fought. That has never happened.”
Hearn continued to mock White and Zuffa Boxing, citing the UFC executive’s promises about what the promotion would accomplish by the end of the year.
“When Dana White says about the history that Zuffa is gonna make, the body of work that you’re going to see by the end of the year, one thing I will give it to Zuffa: they have made history there by actually signing a fighter and never giving him a fight,” Hearn added. “So that’s some great body of work there. Of course we’re going to dine out on it, aren’t we? Because they would do the same thing.”
Hearn and White have also clashed over White’s role in the upcoming fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, scheduled for Dec. 11 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. White has said he will be involved in producing the broadcast, while Hearn maintains that the existing contract prevents such involvement without an agreed change.