LAS VEGAS – Eddie Hearn has witnessed Zuffa Boxing’s foray into the backstage business of the sport, seeing UFC CEO/President Dana White’s new combat sports company already seize an asset that was formerly aligned with Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, IBF cruiserweight titleholder Jai Opataia.
And now, with more of Hearn’s prize fighters also entering or nearing free agency – including unified junior bantamweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and upcoming super middleweight title challenger Diego Pacheco – the competition to retain/secure talent has intensified.
On Thursday, after Hearn directed the news conference for Saturday night’s DAZN-streamed IBF lightweight title fight pitting his former Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz, 6-0 (3 KOs), versus Top Rank’s new world titlist Raymond Muratalla, 23-0 (17 KOs), at the Fontainebleau Resort, he assessed the sport’s rapidly changing landscape.
“I think they’ll go after a number of fighters, really,” Hearn told BoxingScene of Zuffa Boxing.
“But it’s all very confusing. Their narrative and the messaging is all over the place. I actually don’t think they know what they’re doing.”
Hearn is referencing the contrast in Zuffa originally pushing the message that it wanted to stage fights among boxers under its own banner, posting its own rankings and awarding its own belts, versus this week’s signing of Opetaia, with the Australian pressing for unification bouts versus rival-promotion fighters.
“On one hand, it’s like, ‘We’re not recognizing any belts,’ and on the other, with Jai, it’s, ‘We’re doing a unification,’ which they won’t get. They’ll just get random fights,” Hearn said in reference to currently unified cruiserweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez being promoted by White’s longtime antagonist Oscar De La Hoya.
As for Friday’s Zuffa Boxing debut card on Paramount+ headlined by unbeaten middleweight Callum Walsh, with unbeaten middleweight Misael Rodriguez and unbeaten welterweight Cain Sandoval filling out the top three bouts, Hearn asked, “What is going on [Friday] night?
“Is it the [start of their] league [awarding Zuffa belts], or is it just some random fights? What is the narrative? If you’re not pushing belts, then you’re not pushing a story. When you interview Callum Walsh and ask, ‘What’s next?’ what’s he say? Can he fight for a world championship?”
Walsh said he hopes to fight for a Zuffa Boxing belt later this year.
Hearn speaks regularly to signed and unsigned fighters, learning what the buzz is over Zuffa Boxing’s launch.
“With the fighters, there’s a mixture of excitement and ‘What is this?’” Hearn said. “If you’re not really going anywhere [as a prospect/contender] and you’ve got the option to join the league, I think it’s a great deal.
“If you’ve got a brain and you want belts and you want legacy, I think it’s a disaster. Again, I don’t think [Zuffa] knows yet what they want to do. Dana definitely doesn’t. The guys behind the scene have written down on a napkin how it’s going to look, but I don’t think they know boxing.”
The scene is far different than when Hearn expanded his British-based Matchroom promotion to the US in late 2018, telling reporters back then of his interest in rounding up gifted Latino fighters and staging major title fights across the nation with the backing of another well-funded streaming partner, DAZN.
“Everything was based on the world championship and the world rankings and positioning your fighters to become a world champion, like in this fight [with Cruz facing Muratalla on DAZN],” Hearn said.
“I couldn’t imagine coming here and putting on three [non-title] 10-rounders. What’s that? If I did the show they’re doing on Friday, I would get crucified by fight fans [wondering], ‘What the … is this?’”
The wonder is how Zuffa Boxing, with a reported $10 million annual backing of Saudi Arabia boxing financier Turki Alalshikh, the Paramount+ deal and the support of its corporate giant TKO, which houses the UFC and WWE, will flex its potential financial muscle?
When it was proposed that the capability is there to attempt a boxing takeover, Hearn countered:
“Not really, though. Turki’s put a few quid in, but nothing major. [TKO brass are] businessmen. Their bigger problem is going to be there’ll be a revolt from the UFC stars when the boxers are making so much more money with Dana than they are in the UFC and [boxers are] a tenth of the draw.”
That fraying was seen this week when Saturday UFC main-event fighter Justin Gaethje said he’s earned less than $1 million in bonuses in his distinguished career.
“[Gaethje] is getting less than Jai Opetaia – and he’s selling out T-Mobile Arena, and it’s on Paramount+, and they’re paying [the UFC] tens of millions,” Hearn said.
“It’s going to be a bit tricky. In the first instance, the money that [White is] paying his [Zuffa] league guys is very small, and that’s good for [White] because he can say to the UFC guys, ‘These guys are just making $50,000 to $100,000.’
“When you start bringing in Opetaia or whatever other champions and start paying them $1 million to $5 million to fight when the UFC star is making nowhere near that, it’s, ‘What the fuck?’
“That will be interesting.”
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
