Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is back on the scene with a new knee! And now that he’s getting around again, he was able to catch up with Fight Hub TV to give his perspective on what’s been going on in the boxing business as of late, particularly as it pertains to Zuffa Boxing who appear to be in a state of flux. Check out what he had to say below!
Boxing
Eddie Hearn Strikingly Attacks Dana White: ‘Come Into the Ring and I’ll Show You’
Published
6 months agoon
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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Boxing
WBO Denies Denzel Bentleys Appeal; Must Face Yoenli Hernandez or Vacate Title
Published
8 hours agoon
October 22, 2026
Another day, another Zuffa signee losing his belt for shirking his responsibilities. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri announced that the sanctioning body has denied middleweight champion Denzel Bentley’s appeal for a voluntary defense, giving him 24 hours to commit to facing mandatory challenger Yoenli Hernandez.
Bentley (22-3-1, 18 KO) was the beneficiary of Janibek Alimkhanuly’s failed drug test and subsequent emigration to the super middleweight division, as the move elevated the interim belt he’d claimed against Endry Saavendra in April to the real deal. That came with conditions, namely a mandated showdown with Hernandez (11-0, 9 KO) that failed to produce a a contract.
As for who’ll fight Hernandez for it, Vito Mielnicki Jr sits behind him at no. 2, followed by an otherwise-occupied Tim TszyuMichael Zerafa (lmao), and Fiodor Czerkaszyn. We’ll let you know as soon as an enterprising bachelor steps up.
Boxing
WBO Denies Denzel Bentleys Appeal; Orders Showdown with Yoenli Hernandez or Vacate Title
Published
8 hours agoon
October 22, 2026
Another day, another Zuffa signee losing his belt for shirking his responsibilities. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri announced that the sanctioning body has denied middleweight champion Denzel Bentley’s appeal for a voluntary defense, giving him 24 hours to commit to facing mandatory challenger Yoenli Hernandez.
Bentley (22-3-1, 18 KO) was the beneficiary of Janibek Alimkhanuly’s failed drug test and subsequent emigration to the super middleweight division, as the move elevated the interim belt he’d claimed against Endry Saavendra in April to the real deal. That came with conditions, namely a mandated showdown with Hernandez (11-0, 9 KO) that failed to produce a a contract.
As for who’ll fight Hernandez for it, Vito Mielnicki Jr sits behind him at no. 2, followed by an otherwise-occupied Tim TszyuMichael Zerafa (lmao), and Fiodor Czerkaszyn. We’ll let you know as soon as an enterprising bachelor steps up.
Boxing
Bob Arum Comments on Zuffa Boxings Position as Saudis Scale Back Involvement
Published
9 hours agoon
October 22, 2026
Arum on Zuffa’s place in boxing landscape
“When you look at Zuffa, they are hoping to do what they’re doing with Saudi money and the Saudis have poured a lot of money into the sport and for a while were backing Zuffa, so Zuffa felt emboldened to offer big [money] to good fighters like Shakur Stevenson. Now, apparently the Saudis, Turki and Sela have gotten the word from up high in Saudi Arabia, ‘hey, this money is not going to be unlimited, you’ve got to cut down,’ or there’s no money — I don’t know what they’ve told them.
“So the Saudis are clearly pulling back and who knows if they’re going to be involved in boxing after this year. They’ve already, apparently, sold Ring Magazine to DAZN. So, if the Saudi money isn’t there, Zuffa is not going to spend its own money to promote fights because they have announced to their shareholders that they would not do that. And if they start doing it, then they leave themselves open to a major shareholder suit.
“So, again, we have to see what’s going to happen. There’s no animosity, people are doing what they feel is best for them and that’s business. How this all turns out, we’re going to have to see next year and the years after that.”
On whether he thinks Zuffa has done a good job thus far
“What does it mean to have done a good job? If somebody gave me a barrel of money to put on fights, would I be doing a good job? Sure. But anybody would be doing a good job. I mean, give Oscar this kind of money, give Eddie this kind of money.
“So it’s not a question of a good job, the question is can they make matches having a limited budget that is limited by the financial viability of the fight, not what somebody from the outside is pouring into it. That’s doing a big, good job — making it work for them, for the public, for the fighters without the fighters outside help putting in all this money without any way to get it back.”
On Shakur splitting with Zuffa before one fight together
“Once they realized there was no money coming from the Saudis to fund a $15M fight deal, then what do you do? If you can get out of that contract, you get out of it. Did they get out, did it cost them any money to get out? I don’t know. But, again, to pay Shakur $15M…financially it’s not viable. So, it is what it is. And once the Saudis really left the message that they got the word from The Boss that this unlimited tap is going to stop, it was bound to happen.”
On the Shakur vs Devin fight falling apart
“The fight fell apart, but essentially it fell apart is because DAZN had promised [Devin] Haney a certain amount of money, Zuffa had promised Shakur a certain amount of money, and it wasn’t a match because that money didn’t exist in the fight that they would have…Would the fight have justified the money being put up? Because otherwise nobody wants to break their ass doing a fight, promoting a fight, and ending up facing an absolute possibility that you’re going to lose money.”
On his prediction for the business once the Saudi money evaporates
“Looking at the past when this happened, and in boxing it happens all the time, the market then settles and fighters fight for what’s available and we get some very good fights that still go on and life continues. But how it’s going to come out after this, where we had so much money being put into the sport not existing, how is the sport going to continue? It’s going to continue, but how is it going to continue, I don’t know.
“Remember, [Al] Haymon came in when he had that deal with the mutual fund with hundreds of millions of dollars, and all he accomplished was pissing it away. So, again, I have the experience and I’ve been around enough not to say definitively what’s going to happen because I don’t know like nobody else does. I have an idea but again, it’s just an idea and not worth talking about. All I know is that the sport will continue, there will be great fights being made. How everybody will be compensated remains to be seen but that’s in the future.“
On Ryan Garcia saying he’s going to fight Floyd Mayweather for the WBC title
“Will people be interested in it? I don’t know. I know Floyd [Mayweather] needs the money ‘cause he’s pissed away tons of the money that he made. I mean, he blames Haymon for that, he blames this for that, but ultimately I blame him for pissing it away. Will Garcia vs Mayweather generate money? Will it generate enough money to satisfy these guys? I don’t know. I think there will be limited interest in a fight where you have a young guy at the peak of his boxing prowess fighting an old man, which Mayweather has now become.”
On the Eddie Hearn vs Dana White beef over promoting Fury vs AJ, and Hearn insisting White can’t be involved
“Well, that’s right. Eddie [Hearn] is correct. Frank [Warren] and I have a contract with [Tyson] FuryEddie has a contract with [Anthony] Joshua. Dana has a contract with nobody. But if Dana wanted to be involved with the fight, be my guest. I mean, the money is the money. The Saudis are putting up the bulk of the money in that fight. They’ll do a good gate, get back some of it. But again, what do I care? What should anybody care?”
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WBO Denies Denzel Bentleys Appeal; Orders Showdown with Yoenli Hernandez or Vacate Title
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