Eddie Hearn slams Zuffa as Shakur Stevenson leaves without a single fight

Eddie Hearn called Shakur Stevenson's exit from Zuffa Boxing embarrassing for Dana White's promotion. The unbeaten WBO junior welterweight champion now plans to launch his own promotional company.

Eddie Hearn has called Shakur Stevenson's departure from Zuffa Boxing humiliating for Dana White's promotion, after the WBO junior welterweight champion announced he was leaving without having fought under its banner.

Stevenson, 25-0 (11 KOs), signed with Zuffa after beating Teofimo Lopez in January and has not boxed since. The 29-year-old was seen as a major signing for the promotion at the time. He now plans to set up his own promotional company and has left the door open for other promoters to work with him.

Hearn's rivalry with Zuffa, and with White in particular, has grown more bitter this year. Conor Benn, a long-time member of the Matchroom roster, switched to Zuffa, and the two sides then argued at length over White's involvement in Tyson Fury's fight with Anthony Joshua on 11 December.

The Matchroom promoter told iFL TV that he had not believed the news at first. He said: “Until Shakur’s team called me and messaged me last night, I thought it was just a kind of stunt for an announcement because it was so bad, so embarrassing, so humiliating for Zuffa that I thought it couldn’t be real.” Hearn said he could not think of another case in boxing history of a promoter signing a pound-for-pound great who then left before fighting for them. He mocked White's talk of the history Zuffa would make, saying the promotion had made history by signing a fighter and never giving him a fight. Hearn also warned other boxers: “Do not put your career and legacy in the hands of non-boxing people that have no idea what they are doing.” When he announced his decision, Stevenson said he was not angry with anyone and accepted that this was the business of boxing. Hearn praised him for leaving, but put his own spin on Stevenson's statement. He said: “Fair play to Shakur Stevenson because he has had the balls to say, ‘Listen, this is not the place for me, these people don’t know what they are doing, and I need to get out before my career is ruined'.”

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