Eddie Hearn mocks Zuffa Boxing after Shakur Stevenson's exit without a fight
The Matchroom chairman told iFL TV he assumed Shakur Stevenson's release was a publicity stunt until the fighter's team contacted him, calling it humiliating for Dana White's promotion.
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Eddie Hearn has turned Shakur Stevenson's departure from Zuffa Boxing into fresh material for his long-running feud with Dana White, after Stevenson secured his release without ever fighting for the promotion.
Stevenson left only months after signing a deal that was regarded as one of Zuffa Boxing's biggest. Hearn, the British promoter who chairs Matchroom, has repeatedly questioned whether White and his team understand how boxing promotion works, and the exit has raised questions over Zuffa's ability to keep elite talent.
Hearn told iFL TV that he first took the news for a publicity stunt, struggling to believe a promotion could lose its leading signing before arranging a single fight. He said he only accepted it was real once Stevenson's team messaged him, describing the episode as so bad, embarrassing and humiliating for Zuffa that he thought it could not be genuine.
He said the announcement prompted a flood of messages about the promotion's future, and questioned how Zuffa could sign a pound-for-pound fighter and let him walk away without a bout under its banner. Turning White's talk of the history Zuffa would make back on him, Hearn said sarcastically that the promotion had indeed made history by signing a fighter and never giving him a fight.
White entered boxing through Zuffa Boxing in partnership with Turki Alalshikh and the Saudi entertainment company Sela.
Hearn argued that fighters should put meaningful competition and regular activity ahead of a lucrative promotional deal. He held up Devin Haney, the former undisputed lightweight champion, as an example, praising him for signing with DAZN rather than joining Zuffa, and suggested Stevenson could now take a similar route.
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