Eddie Hearn says Dana White is contractually barred from producing Tyson Fury against Anthony Joshua. White, at the Contender Series press conference on Tuesday, said that is not true and then invited Hearn to do something about it.
“Sounds like he’s got an incredible lawsuit,” White said.
That is the tone of a man who does not expect to be sued.
What Hearn actually claims
The Matchroom Boxing chairman says Sela, a promoter on the event, gave him White’s number to arrange a meeting. He says he texted White and got no reply. He says Sela then told him White is contractually barred from handling production.
White’s response to the idea of a meeting was dismissive. “What should we possibly meet about?” he said.
He also flatly denied any ambiguity. “There’s absolutely zero confusion,” White said. “Everything that I have said, however long ago I’ve said it, is true.”
White’s position is unambiguous
“I’m producing the fight, I’m promoting the fight,” he said, naming Turki Alalshikh as his partner. He said he will be in Cardiff with his production crew and then fly back to Las Vegas for UFC 335.
Fury and Joshua fight on December 11 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff. UFC 335 is December 12 at T-Mobile Arena. That is a transatlantic turnaround inside 24 hours, which tells you how seriously White is treating the boxing side.
He also drew a line he has drawn before: “Eddie and I are not the same.” He called the repeated Hearn questions “silly.”
Why White keeps winning these exchanges
Because he has the event. Whatever Hearn’s contract says, the fight is happening in December with White’s production crew and Alalshikh’s money behind it. Hearn is making a procedural argument from outside the building.
White has spent 25 years winning public fights with promoters by being louder and holding the broadcast. The Zuffa Boxing expansion gives him the same leverage in a sport where promoters have historically had more of it than fighters.
If there were a real contractual bar, the appropriate venue would be a court, not a press scrum. Hearn has gone to the press. White noticed.
What is actually at stake
Fury against Joshua is the biggest British heavyweight fight available and is set for a stadium show on Netflix. Whoever controls the production controls how it looks, how it is sold and who gets credit.
Hearn has promoted Joshua for most of his career. Being locked out of the production of his fighter’s biggest night is a real professional injury, and his frustration is understandable.
It is also not going to change anything by December 11. White has the crew booked and the flights planned, and he has made clear he is not taking the meeting.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.