Eddie Hearn has heard enough. And on Tuesday, he made sure everyone knew it.
In a wildly witty interview with IFLTV and another performance Ariel Helwani showthe president of Matchroom Boxing, in two separate interviews conducted within a few hours, interviewed Dan White, formally accepting the challenge from the UFC boss, outlining the financial terms he believed would be attached to the fight and predicting a knockout.
Since the launch of Zuffa Boxing, the exchanges between the two promoters have escalated rapidly, and White’s post-UFC 327 press conference this past weekend added fuel to the fire. In a conversation with the media in Miami, White sharply criticized his rival with characteristic bluntness.
“Eddie Hearn is in a coma. Eddie Hearn isn’t boxing anyone, he’s posting f***ing pictures of himself hitting the speed bag. It looks like it’s in sluggish motion,” White said. “I’ll tell you what. If that happened, me and Eddie Hearn are bums. We’d be the first fight of the night. These guys are talking like we’re going to be the headliners.
Hearn, appearing on IFLTV, had a very different view on card placement.
“He called me ap***y and that would be the start of the night. No, hell no! It’ll be the main event probably on Netflix,” Hearn said. “And if you generate… it will probably be the biggest fight right now, outside of AJ.”
The interviewer pressed him on the potential of a pay-per-view broadcast, pointing to Hearn’s previous statements about the benefits of a White fight. Hearn didn’t hesitate.
“You said categorically, you said it in one of my interviews, that he makes a minimum of 1 million purchases. Are you earnest? 1 million purchases is straightforward. EASY,” Hearn said. “Does Dana, who clearly knows this, think this will be the first fight of the night? I don’t know what he means.”
Financial framework
In addition to hurling insults, Hearn laid out the specific financial structure for the fight, treating the hypothetical fight like any other major promotion he has lined up.
“You put it in the pot 50-50. I know they’re not used to this model, but we’ll split the revenue. Me and him, 50-50,” Hearn said. “A broadcaster wants to sign up, they can take 10 or 15 percent of their pay-per-view. Eat what you kill. We’ll make $30 million per fight.”
This figure is significantly different from what has apparently been offered so far. Hearn referred to the $10 million figure set for the site and dismissed it as “very far off.” He also admitted that Turki Alalshikh was involved in discussions behind the scenes, although no formal offer had appeared on his desk.
“He thinks Turki has made some kind of offer, not an offer. He hasn’t made me an offer yet,” Hearn said. “Kind of disappointing. Dana White sure forgot a bit about this, didn’t he?”
White confirmed this during the UFC 327 press conference, telling reporters: “You don’t think Turki would try to make this fight? Of course he would. People are throwing offers everywhere.”
“I think I’m going to knock him out.”
If the IFLTV interview provided the financial framework, Hearn’s Monday appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show provided the knockout prediction.
“He keeps calling me hopeless, but I’m like, let’s see if I’m diseased,” Hearn told Helwani. “I mean, we would each make $30 million. What does he think, that I’m straightforward to touch? I’m very narrow, but I can handle it. I’ll get into good shape. I’m a gigantic lump and I think I’ll knock him out.”
Then, in perhaps the most sincere and self-aware moment of the entire media frenzy, Hearn accepted with extraordinary joy a different possible outcome.
“But if I get knocked out and make $30 million, it won’t be the saddest day in the world and people will probably find it pretty witty,” he said. “Now I’m very excited about it. After this conversation, I’m going to go to the gym.”
The formal acceptance was as direct as possible.
“He called me, I agree. I’m in. Let’s find out who the real dick is,” Hearn said. “Put me in, write down my name, find me a pair of shorts and I’ll go.”
“I’m Ready”
Returning to the IFLTV interview, Hearn was already building the case for his readiness with all the subtlety of a hammer. White mocked the swift bag footage that Hearn posted during training at Oleksandr Usyk’s camp in Spainand Hearn took it personally.
“We also saw your duffel bag and we said that was sluggish motion. Honestly, him and his guys, the cheeky bastards,” Hearn said before launching into what can only be described as a full scouting report on him. “I train every day. I’m torn to pieces. Fucking hand speed. Unbelievable. And I’m ready.”
The Matchroom boss then went into full Essex mode, with obvious relish referencing his amateur boxing past.
“You think Dana doesn’t know anything about Eddie Hearn, the Iceman from Billericay? Lake Meadows, 4 and 0, four by the way,” Hearn said, smiling. “Do you think Dana White will survive a frigid night on Brentwood High Street? Do you think?”
When the IFLTV interviewer jokingly offered to call Mike Tyson as a potential opponent, Hearn used it as the perfect opportunity to prove his point.
“So just because I want to fight Mike Tyson doesn’t mean it’s going to f**king happen,” Hearn said. “But Mike Tyson never called you out. In fact, Mike Tyson doesn’t even fucking know who you are, dude.” He paused long enough to deliver the punch line. “He challenged me to a fight, he said I wouldn’t fight him, and I’m telling you I’ll fight you. And I’m telling you I’ll beat him. Composed down. Show some respect to my name.”
More than a joke, less than a deal
What makes the Hearn-White animated so unusual is that it is situated in a veritable no man’s land, between promotional theater and real hostility. Their once-friendly relationship deteriorated rapidly after White signed Conor Benn from Matchroom to Zuffa Boxing for a reported $15 million. Hearn responded by recruiting UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall to his newly formed Matchroom Talent Agency. Since then, the photos have been personal.
White maintained that if the fight did happen at all, it should be the opening card, not the headline, and that, at age 56, he should not be in the ring. However, he also stopped brief of closing the door definitively, confirming that real deals were being discussed and that Alalshikh is actively trying to make that happen.
Hearn, 10 years younger, at 46 and much taller, appears to be the one pushing harder. His closing argument on IFLTV leaned toward the absurd, yet somehow still sounded half-serious.
“Imagine a traveling army from Essex, 20,000 mighty, going to Vegas,” Hearn said. “I documented it. I trained my balls too. I’m ready. I’m fucking ready.”
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