UFC President Dana White has traded barbs with boxing promoter Eddie Hearn again this week.
With reports having circulated a little while ago that Dana White offered a $500 million promotion deal to heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua.
It has been public knowledge for the last few months that Dana White is looking to break into the boxing market, even announcing his own stable in Zuffa Boxing. The UFC’s president has confirmed he’s been conversing with rapidly rising star Mikey Garcia. Whilst the reports of Joshua did gain huge traction, White denied that he had offered anything concrete to the Brit, though he did confirm he’d discussed it with him.
Hearn, Joshua’s current promoter, has promoted Joshua since he burst onto the scene as an Olympic gold medalist in 2012. Though, it is believed that his contract with Matchroom has come to an end.
White told MMA Roasted the following (via Boxing Scene):
“Me and Joshua spoke on the phone. We never got together. His contract was coming up and I said, ‘Listen, I would like to talk to you guys.’ He made it very clear to me that he wasn’t going to leave Eddie and that he wanted to stay with Eddie.”
White continued: “Yeah, I’m not looking for you to leave Eddie, we can all work together, I think we can do a lot for you here in the United States.’ Eddie Hearn hasn’t been in the business that long. I think Eddie Hearn was very oversensitive over the thought that Anthony Joshua and I would even talk and was almost insulted by it.”
Joshua and Hearn have been a successful pairing since he turned pro. They sold out Wembley Arena for the epic clash with Vladimir Klitschko and have had two incredibly successful cards at The Principality Stadium against Carlos Takam and Joesph Parker respectively with all three events pulling in 90,000 spectators in the arena alone as well as massive buy-rates.
Do you think Dana White is prepared to dive into the boxing world?
