Eddie Hearn has claimed that he would never need to be as ‘cold’ as Dana White after having certainly one of his top fighters stolen away in an enormous money deal amid their ongoing feud.
The Matchroom Boxing boss took Conor Benn from his skilled debut to 2 stadium headliners against Chris Eubank Jr last 12 months. His victory within the September rematch finally made Benn, with whom Hearn fought a years-long media battle over a drug test failure, a significant star in boxing.
And while the Brit was out of contract, he was offered a cope with White’s Zuffa Boxing for a reported $15 million. Benn will make his debut for the brand new outfit against former world champion Regis Prograis on Tyson Fury’s April 11 card on Netflix.
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Eddie Hearn fires back at Dana White’s crass jab
Eddie Hearn just isn’t someone who minces his words, and when news broke of Benn’s defection to Zuffa Boxing, he admitted to being ‘devastated’ by the move. Dana White, also not known for sugarcoating, proceeded to brand him a ‘p—-‘ in the course of the post-fight press conference for UFC Houston.
And speaking with Boxing Social, Hearn has clapped back at White. He insists that the explanation he comes across as emotional is because he cares about fighters, which he says his rival cannot do given how he pays UFC stars and the way in which they’re treated.
“I feel we are only different,” Hearn explained. “I’m an emotional guy in the case of what I do. I feel a part of that, people love. And once I get upset because I feel someone’s betrayed me I don’t think that makes me a p—-, it just makes me someone who carries emotions towards what I do.
“Right or mistaken, perhaps he doesn’t care, perhaps he doesn’t need to treat people like my fighters. Possibly he’s not bothered about those partnerships and relationships with fighters where he does get emotional.
“Have you ever ever seen him go make a prat out of himself like I do when someone wins? No. All it’s for him is a business, for me it’s a passion. It’s a business as well, nevertheless it’s something I like and that’s why while you see Dmitry Bivol win or Dalton Smith win, you see me run within the ring and dive around on the ground.
“I do know I appear like a clown, I do know I don’t look cool because I don’t care about looking cool at that time. It’s all emotion. But that goes each ways. So yeah, when things don’t go my way for a fighter I’m upset or if a fighter goes against me like that, yeah, I’m emotional.
“That doesn’t make me a p—-, it just means I care. In the event you don’t care, I understand it but I don’t need to be around a business like that, I don’t need to live my life like that. I need to care. Emotion is real.”
Eddie Hearn slams ‘cold’ TKO approach to business
While Dana White is referred to as one of the stern operators within the business, he’s joined on this TKO enterprise by WWE boss Nick Khan in addition to the legendary Hollywood powerhouse Ari Emmanuel. And Hearn believes they is likely to be too ‘cold’ for boxing.
“I feel I’m pretty cold,” Hearn claimed. “But what I see from those guys is real coldness. Have a look at the way in which they treat the UFC guys and take a look at the response from the UFC fighters and take a look at what happened to Tom Aspinall.”
Hearn is referring to the gruesome eye injuries suffered by UFC heavyweight champion Aspinall against Ciryl Gane last 12 months. He has needed to undergo a double eye surgery, but has been shown minimal sympathy by White after the actual fact.