Even though Turki Alalshikh wants peace among boxing promoters, Eddie Hearn prefers to continue a heated rivalry with Dana White.
Alalshikh recently revealed a battle with cancer and a brain tumor, and given his health situation, called for boxing promoters such as Hearn and White to come together to settle their differences. Hearn has immense respect for Alalshikh and what he’s done for boxing with Riyadh Season, but isn’t ready to move on from his beef with White.
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“I respect Turki so much for what he’s done for the sport, and he’s always been very good to me, us, our fighters,” Hearn said during a media scrum (via Seconds Out). “I’ll tell you something as well, although there are a lot of what you might call soldiers and lieutenants that do work on his instruction, he has never gone against his word to me since I’ve started work for him, which goes a long way.”
“I’ve got to be honest: this war that I’m in with Dana White, I find so enjoyable, and I missed it when I made friends with Frank Warren, right? Because for 15 years, I battled with Warren. You see what’s going on now with me and Dana for six months? I did that for 15 years with Frank Warren, and let me tell you something now: Dana White can’t lace Frank Warren’s boots when it comes to having a war in boxing, because Frank knows every move. He knows every fighter. He knows every stroke that can be pulled. So, I’m really enjoying it.”
The tensions between Hearn and White stem from the birth of Zuffa Boxing. The two promoters have gone back and forth in recent months in interviews, debating boxing promoter skills and general trash talk. There have even been discussions of Hearn and White getting into the ring to settle things with their fists. White signed one of Hearn’s longtime fighters, Conor Benn, to Zuffa Boxing, and soon after, Hearn signed a representation deal with UFC champion Tom Aspinall. The rivalry has been intense and ramped up quickly.
The most recent hot-button topic between the two is the potential Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury showdown, which is expected to take place in the near future. There have been arguments back and forth about contractual restrictions involving White and Zuffa Boxing as a part of the promotion. While things could change, Hearn is ultimately enjoying the chaos that comes with having a rival promoter.
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“If you ask me, I don’t really want peace. I want war – but in a good way,” Hearn said. “I’ve got nothing personal against Dana White. I’m just really enjoying it, and it’s great for me, because I’m walking down the street, and someone’s coming out of a car, going, ‘Kick Dana’s ass!’ They wouldn’t have known me if he hadn’t been bigging me up, talking about me. It’s what I live for.
“But, I also respect Turki Alalshikh, and if he tells me, ‘Hey, we got this, we wanna try to do this.’ If it benefits myself, and my fighters, and my company, then maybe we’ll switch it up a little bit. But right now, a lot of this has got to do with the A.J. fight with Fury, because contractually, it’s a lot of things that can’t be done, that Turki might want to do. So we have to renegotiate the contract and go back. I’m open to that as well. I’ll always sit down with Turki and try and do business with him. But I like the carnage, and he does as well. Don’t just be fooled by the peace talk. He loves the carnage.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Eddie Hearn: ‘I don’t want peace, I want war’ with Dana White
