Eddie Hearn has claimed that he would never want to be as ‘cold’ as Dana White after having one of his top fighters stolen away in a massive money deal amid their ongoing feud.
The Matchroom Boxing boss took Conor Benn from his professional debut to two stadium headliners against Chris Eubank Jr last year. His victory in the September rematch finally made Benn, with whom Hearn fought a years-long media battle over a drug test failure, a major star in boxing.
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And while the Brit was out of contract, he was offered a deal with White’s Zuffa Boxing for a reported $15 million. Benn will make his debut for the new outfit against former world champion Regis Prograis on Tyson Fury’s April 11 card on Netflix.
Eddie Hearn fires back at Dana White’s crass jab
Eddie Hearn is not 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—-‘ during the post-fight press conference for UFC Houston.
And speaking with Boxing Social, Hearn has clapped back at White. He insists that the reason 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 they are treated.
“I think we are just different,” Hearn explained. “I’m an emotional guy when it comes to what I do. I think part of that, people love. And when I get upset because I think 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 wrong, maybe he doesn’t care, maybe he doesn’t want to treat people like my fighters. Maybe he’s not bothered about those partnerships and relationships with fighters where he does get emotional.
“Have you ever seen him go make a prat out of himself like I do when someone wins? No. All it is for him is a business, for me it’s a passion. It’s a business as well, but it’s something I love and that’s why when you see Dmitry Bivol win or Dalton Smith win, you see me run in the ring and dive around on the floor.
“I know I look like a clown, I know I don’t look cool because I don’t care about looking cool at that point. It’s all emotion. But that goes both ways. So yeah, when things don’t go my way for a fighter I am upset or if a fighter goes against me like that, yeah, I am emotional.
“That doesn’t make me a p—-, it just means I care. If you don’t care, I understand it but I don’t want to be around a business like that, I don’t want to live my life like that. I want to care. Emotion is real.”
Eddie Hearn slams ‘cold’ TKO approach to business
While Dana White is known as one of the most stern operators in the business, he is joined in this TKO venture by WWE boss Nick Khan as well as the legendary Hollywood powerhouse Ari Emmanuel. And Hearn believes they might be too ‘cold’ for boxing.
“I think I’m pretty cold,” Hearn claimed. “But what I see from those guys is real coldness. Look at the way they treat the UFC guys and look at the response from the UFC fighters and 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 year. He has had to undergo a double eye surgery, but has been shown minimal sympathy by White after the fact.
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