Eddie Hearn had already been dealing with fighters leaving Matchroom Boxing for Dana White’s Zuffa. Still, he appeared willing to live with it. But what happens when White’s influence spills over into events?

“This is the busiest year of my career,” the Zuffa Boxing head recently told Nina-Marie Daniele on a Kick livestream. “I’m going to be traveling everywhere. I’m focused on Zuffa Boxing hardcore this year, signing all these guys and putting on great fights. We did a deal with Sky in the UK. There will be great fights on Sky.”

His next comments immediately drew attention.

“I’m doing the Tyson Fury-AJ fight too,” White added. “I’m promoting that.”

That immediately put the spotlight on Eddie Hearn. But how would he respond this time? Judging by his reaction, Hearn had little interest in backing down.

“Such a clout chaser,” he wrote on Instagram Story. “Not a chance and contractually impossible. Let me know when you find your ba**s.”

To support his point, the Matchroom head shared a screenshot featuring comments from TKO President and COO Mark Shapiro, who had previously said Zuffa and Sela would promote the Tyson Fury-Arslanbek Makhmudov fight.

“Oh yeah. They said they were promoting this one too. What happened?” Hearn wrote.

The latest developments surrounding the much-anticipated Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua fight have once again placed Hearn and White on opposite sides. But this time, the stakes are much bigger.

Eddie Hearn and Dana White collide over boxing’s biggest prize

Unlike previous exchanges centered around press conferences and fighter poaching, this situation revolves around what many consider the biggest fight in British boxing history.

While the date and venue are still being finalized, it now appears Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua will finally meet before the end of the year.

“To my friends in Great Britain—it’s happening. It’s signed,” wrote Turki Alalshikh, the driving force behind the fight, last month.

The Fury-AJ showdown, likely targeted for November, has been building for years. With both fighters now entering the later stages of their careers, this may represent the last realistic opportunity to finally make the fight happen.

With stakes this high, anticipation around the Netflix boxing event continues to grow as organizers prepare for one of boxing’s biggest commercial events in years.

As both camps prepare for the eventual Fury-Joshua showdown, AJ is scheduled to return on July 25 against Kristian Prenga. Fury, meanwhile, took a stay-busy fight against Arslanbek Makhmudov last month.

Addressing the situation, Hearn reportedly shared that while Matchroom will promote AJ vs. Prenga, Saudi Arabia-based Sela will take over the Fury fight.

“Once we sign up for that agreement, it is over to them (Turki Alalshikh) in terms of the staging,” he told iFL TV. “We will be promoting for July; I would think that the November fight or whatever it will be, will be promoted by Sela.”

While Dana White‘s comments differ from Hearn’s version of events, they are not entirely disconnected from reality.

To begin with, through parent company TKO, White already has a partnership with Riyadh Season and Sela for Zuffa Boxing.

Last year, after the new promotion was announced, the Saudis handed Dana White promotional control of the Terence Crawford-Canelo Alvarez superfight to launch the partnership.

Given that history and White’s growing involvement in Saudi-backed boxing events, he may genuinely believe he will eventually help stage the historic Fury-AJ fight.

What remains to be seen now is whether Hearn’s stance or White’s prediction ultimately proves correct.