Eddie Hearn insists that Zuffa Boxing\u2019s Dana White claiming authority over the proposed Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury showdown put him on the wrong side of the event\u2019s financier, Turki Alalshikh.<\/p>\n
Speaking in New York, ahead of the junior middleweight showdown between Jaron Ennis and Xander Zayas that Matchroom will promote, Hearn was, yet again, asked to comment on the heavyweight battle that continues to dominate headlines.<\/p>\n
The story so far, in a nutshell, is that Queensberry\u2019s Fury signed a contract, Matchroom\u2019s Joshua signed a contract, then White insinuated \u2013 after Zuffa Boxing\u2019s show in Bournemouth, England, on June 6 \u2014 that he was the one who was overseeing the heavyweight showdown by claiming he knew the location, the date, and that he would be the event\u2019s promoter.<\/p>\n
Nothing, however, has yet been resolved for several reasons: Joshua first needs to come through his July 25 date with Kristian Prenga; Fury\u2019s own proposed warm-up bout hasn\u2019t yet been confirmed; the date and location of Joshua-Fury is thus up in the air; and the broadcaster (should we get that far), Netflix, will have a huge say regarding when it takes place. A twist is that due to exclusive broadcast deals with DAZN, neither Queensberry nor Matchroom can promote a Netflix event. Another is that, according to both Matchroom and Queensberry, the contracts of both Joshua and Fury state that Zuffa can\u2019t be the lead promoter either.<\/p>\n
Last week, Fury headed out to Washington DC for a UFC event at the White House where an\u00a0alliance with White was teased<\/a> after being photographed with the Zuffa and UFC boss. The following day, Fury declared that Alalshikh was in fact his promoter.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the Bournemouth show [White] went up [at the press conference], when he was getting all zesty, and basically Zuffa posted all of his comments [about Joshua-Fury],\u201d Hearn explained to IFLTV.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHe got his bum smacked by Turki Alalshikh and they had to delete all of their messages about him saying he\u2019s promoting the event. So embarrassing.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, they had to delete all their comments saying they were promoting the show; bum slap number one. Bum slap number two: Tyson Fury went out to the White House \u2013 and credit where it\u2019s due, unbelievable event \u2013 [but] Dana White wants to come out and say he\u2019s promoting Tyson Fury. Next thing, bum slap. Then all of a sudden [Fury] is posting that \u2018my promoter is Turki Alalshikh\u2019. \u00a0<\/p>\n “The bum is sore, the bum is raw.<\/p>\n “At the end of the day, Dana White has got to do whatever Turki Alalshikh tells him to do because, guess what, Turki Alalshikh, Sela, Saudis, they own Zuffa Boxing. So, Dana is just an employee, he\u2019s got to do what he\u2019s told.<\/p>\n \u201cBut [White\u2019s] head has fallen off, he can\u2019t deal with this kind of stuff. Fair play to Dana, he\u2019s a competitor; he\u2019s very stubborn; he will try and find a way now to get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Hearn has repeatedly stated that for the Joshua-Fury fight to happen in America, as was widely reported last week, his charge\u2019s contract will have to be renegotiated because it currently stipulates that the fight must happen in the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n