Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn spent a length of time with The Stomping Ground to gloat about what’s now expected to be an Anthony Joshua vs Tyson Fury fight — actually in the UK! Although the formal announcement has yet to come, all current indications are that it’s imminent and that means Hearn can’t help but turn the screw on good ol’ friend Dana White, who had tried to push his own agenda on staging the fight in America.
So, during a segment when Hearn would be asked whether he thought White was good for boxing, he didn’t deny that having more investment and eyes on the sport is a good thing, but he also can’t help but chuckle at how the company is tricking fighters out of position for their own benefit.
“Jai Opetaia is a great example,” Hearn said. “Jai Opetaia, all he wanted to do was be undisputed. That’s his whole aim, he wants to unify the division, blah, blah, blah. He signs with Zuffa and he says ‘I can’t wait to be undisputed’. Zuffa have in turn come out and said ‘we’re not going to work with any of the belts’. He gets stripped of his IBF title, so he’s no longer a world champion, then all the sudden he’s fighting the WBC world champion.
“So he goes ‘it’s really good now, I know I lost my IBF belt but I’m now fighting for the WBC world title’. He fights Mikaelian, the fight is not sanctioned by the WBC because Mikaelian had an order to fight David Benavidez. Jai wins, thinks he’s WBC world champion — the belt’s vacant. So he doesn’t have one belt in boxing.
“And now he’s done an interview yesterday, going on with Rick Reno going ‘I feel undisputed’s coming’. It’s like, you don’t even have one belt, mate. What are you talking about? They get talked and they get spieled by these people and it’s like, it’s absolute bollocks, total bollocks.”