Eddie Hearn Claims Zuffa Was ‘Bullied’ Into Co-Promotion

“I mean, he was bullied into it really. They’d no alternative,” Hearn said to Fighthype when asked about Zuffa working with Oscar De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions. “Do you think that Dana White would have voluntarily said, ‘Let’s do a co-promotion with Oscar De La Hoya?’ I mean he can’t stand him.”

Hearn said that Zuffa entered boxing promising to avoid co-promotions and world title sanctioning bodies, but says reality quickly forced a special approach.

“But that is how boxing works. Sometimes you don’t get like in a super world probably we wouldn’t do co-promotions with anybody since you’d reasonably just do it on your individual. But boxing doesn’t work like that. It’s never worked like that,” Hearn said.

He also pointed to the WBC’s involvement in Garcia’s September 12 welterweight title defense against Benn, saying Zuffa underestimated the importance of established organizations.

“They said they’re not doing any world championship fights. The truth is, Nick Khan stood on the stand to try to abolish the Muhammad Ali Act and belittle Mauricio Sulaiman,” Hearn said. “Well, guess what? On September the twelfth, Mauricio Sulaiman will likely be within the ring on their show, they usually’ll all should pay homage to the WBC championship because you’ll be able to’t just eliminate these items.”

Hearn closed by arguing that the Garcia-Benn promotion illustrates the basic difference between boxing and mixed martial arts.

“Nobody’s going to put down,” Hearn said. “Oscar De La Hoya was going to let Ryan Garcia just poodle on over to do a Zuffa show? No likelihood. They’re control freaks, and you’ll be able to’t control boxing.”