Eddie Hearn Says Zuffa Boxing Product ‘Not Very Good’

Eddie Hearn questions Zuffa’s title structure and headliners as Dana White pushes a separate championship system

Eddie Hearn has seen enough cards to form a view. He does not think Zuffa Boxing has met the standard it talks about.

Speaking ahead of his Arizona show, the Matchroom chairman took aim at the matchmaking. He is judging the headline fights. That is where a promotion shows its level.

Jai Opetaia against Brandon Glanton did not move him. Charles Martin against Efe Ajagba did not either. Those are solid heavyweights and a tough cruiserweight contender, but fights on a national platform demand more than respectable matchups. They demand men ranked at the top of the division trading leather with something on the line.

“Let’s be honest: they’re not making great fights on Zuffa Boxing. The product is not very good,” Hearn told Lance Pugmire at BoxingScene.

He did not soften it.

“If I was putting on those shows Dana is doing, I’d get ridiculed,” Hearn said. “If you actually strip it back and look at what you’re getting…”

The criticism goes deeper than opponent selection. Zuffa has introduced its own belt and internal rankings, stepping outside the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO structure. Opetaia is scheduled to box for the first version of that title in Las Vegas on March 8. It creates a closed system. Fighters ranked within the promotion, fighting for a belt the promotion controls.

Hearn has worked inside the alphabet system for years. He understands its flaws. He also understands how recognition is built. Television dates, unification fights, mandatories enforced by the IBF, politics with the WBC. It is messy, but the belts have history and contenders are earned through eliminators.

He does not see that history in a newly minted strap.

“It’s smart what they’re trying to do, trying to spin the narrative that this Zuffa belt is the belt,” Hearn said. “If you know boxing, you say, ‘Oh no it’s not.’”

Hearn’s position is predictable. He will keep staging fights for recognized titles. He will keep working with other promoters when the money lines up and the contenders are aligned.

“We’ve just got to keep outperforming them,” he said.

That will be measured where it always is. In the ring. In the quality of opposition. In whether the main event feels like a real top-of-the-division fight when the bell rings and the jab starts finding range.