{"id":476643,"date":"2026-02-13T05:09:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T05:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476643\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T05:09:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T05:09:08","slug":"hearn-slams-whites-cringe-zuffa-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476643\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearn Slams White\u2019s \u2018Cringe\u2019 Zuffa Title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hearn \u2014 as well as many others<\/a> \u2014 have been very critical of White\u2019s venture into boxing, which is already two events in (results here<\/a> and here<\/a>). More recently, however, Hearn took aim at White after he cut a promo that included him walking out with a Zuffa belt<\/a>. It\u2019s something Hearn found hilarious since promoters are not allowed to have their own belts, though Zuffa is hoping to officially change all of that if the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act<\/a> is passed by the U.S. Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeigh Wood against Josh Warrington for the Super Featherweight Matchroom Boxing championship of the world,\u201d said Hearn in an interview with IFL TV<\/a>, before bursting out in laughter. \u201cNo, I am joking. That is the cringiest shit I have ever seen. You know I would never do that. But I was just laughing because this Jai Opetaia vs. Brandon Glanton is for the Zuffa championship of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can just do that. That would be quite amusing, anyone can do it. \u2018You know what you\u2019re going to win when you grow up? The Matchroom Boxing championship,\u2019\u201d he said mockingly. \u2018\u201cOh, really Eddie, what\u2019s that,\u2019\u201d he said while playing the voice of an imaginary up-and-coming boxer.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Oh, it\u2019s my new championship belt. This is going to be the biggest thing in boxing. If you are going to be a real champ you have to win the MBWC belt, the Matchroom Boxing World Championship,\u2019\u201d he added before getting back to serious mode.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think I would disrespect boxing that much. My ego is out of control but that is beyond anything I could ever fathom. The history and legacy of the sport governs that. You have to win the WBC, the WBA, you know, the belts that the Muhammad Ali won, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson won, Roberto Duran, Larry Holmes, Shakur Stevenson, Floyd Mayweather.\u201d<\/p>\n

White has already booked the first-ever Zuffa Cruiserweight title fight <\/a>between Jai Opetaia and Brandon Glanton, which is set to go down on March, 8, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. White\u2019s strategy is to use The Ring\u2019s rankings as a guide for contenders, while Zuffa title holders will be independent of traditional sanctioning bodies such as the WBC, WBA and IBF. In short, he is using the Zuffa title as a springboard for the champion to face The Ring title holders, and signing a world champion like Opetaia helps his cause.<\/p>\n

As it stands, Opetaia is the The Ring Cruiserweight champion and his belt will be on the line when he faces Glanton. No word if his IBF strap will be up for grabs, as well.<\/p>\n

To checkout the latest Zuffa boxing-related news and notes click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hearn \u2014 as well as many others \u2014 have been very critical of White\u2019s venture into boxing, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,43957,786,785,85,114155],"class_list":{"0":"post-476643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing-news-results","11":"tag-fighting","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-zuffa-boxing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}