Eddie Hearn was in no mood to hold back following a spectacular night of boxing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and his comments about the direction of the sport made headlines alongside the action inside the ring.
During the interview, the Matchroom chairman passionately defended traditional boxing promotion while taking aim at what he sees as an imitation of the sport emerging under Dana White and the Zuffa Boxing banner.
Pointing to the atmosphere inside the sold-out arena, Hearn contrasted the night’s action with what he believes is a watered-down version of professional boxing.
“Stick your garage up your a*s,” Hearn said. “Stick your fake belts up your a*s. Stick all this bulls**t up your a*s. That is real boxing. The best beat the best.”
The outburst came as part of a broader point about the quality of the event as a whole. For Hearn, the packed Barclays Center, championship-level matchups, and electric atmosphere represented everything the sport should be.
In contrast, he argued that manufactured organizations, secondary belts, and crossover-driven promotional models fail to capture boxing at its best.
Reflecting on the night’s success, Hearn summed it up simply.
“What a show,” he said. “What a show.”
The latest remarks are also consistent with Hearn’s increasingly personal war of words with White over the past several months. Hearn claimed in another interview the UFC CEO had backed away from talk of a potential exhibition boxing match between the pair.
“He doesn’t want smoke,” Hearn said, before joking that White may have learned about his amateur boxing background.
Although Hearn initially insisted White would be the favorite, he quickly turned the conversation into another playful jab. “I don’t want to put the fear into him, so I’m going to dress it up and say he’s a big favorite in the match,” he said. “But the reality is… there’s certain combinations that I worked on back in the day down Lake Meadows that would put the fear of Christ into some pound-for-pound boxers today.”
Hearn ultimately cast doubt on the match ever happening, suggesting White had lost interest altogether. “He s**ts himself now anyway, so he’s not going to compete against me. But it was a good idea,” he said.
