BUZZ Eddie Hearn calls Zuffa Boxing 'a laughingstock of the sport' in DAZN interview

Eddie Hearn has turned a rivalry into open mockery. The Matchroom promoter told DAZN that the people running Dana White's Zuffa Boxing have "not a clue about boxing", and he predicted the company will never admit how the year has gone.

Hearn's argument is that White should hold his hands up at the end of the year and call it "an absolute monstrosity, a disaster". He expects the opposite: that Zuffa will describe it as "a really good start". His message to White was to "humble yourself, do your work, study, get better, improve, come back."

The jibes come with a business backdrop. After Dalton Smith beat Alberto Puello in Sheffield, Hearn said he would like to be responsible for Zuffa's decline, "and potentially the extinction within 10 months". He also said he had "loved this year" and had "never been so popular", adding that White was making him look like "a mixture of the patron saint of boxing" and James Bond.

Recent events give Hearn material. Shakur Stevenson, the unbeaten 29-year-old southpaw lightweight, left Zuffa Boxing without having fought for the company. White says he offered Stevenson his release, while Stevenson says he asked for it. Stevenson is now a free agent, and Hearn is pushing a fight between him and Smith.

Devin Haney also signed an exclusive deal with DAZN, the outlet Hearn spoke to, after a proposed fight with Stevenson fell through. Haney holds the WBO welterweight title.

What to watch next is whether White answers publicly, and where Stevenson lands. A Stevenson-Smith fight is only floated so far, and nothing has been booked.