Eddie Hearn wants Shakur Stevenson back under the Matchroom banner. He has already started conversations with the fighter’s team, which explains why he quickly sided with the lightweight star following his split with Zuffa.
Hearn focused his fire on Zuffa, portraying Shakur as a talent let down by a promotional outfit that failed to deliver promised matchups.
“Do I want to sign Shakur Stevenson? Cards on the table. Absolutely,” Hearn said to The Stomping Ground. “But I need to be able to provide the right plan for him and his team, the right money as well.”
Hearn confirmed he has engaged in informal talks, leaning on his close ties to Shakur’s management team, Josh Dubin and James Prince. He even claimed Shakur would pick Matchroom over any rival outfit if money were not the primary decider, though he admitted top dollar will steer the final call.
The core problem that broke Zuffa could easily trip up Hearn.
Rumored figures point to a steep $15 million baseline guarantee, an eye-popping $20 million demand for a Devin Haney clash, plus a flat refusal of a $7 million offer to face Rayo Valenzuela. Demands around catchweights and rehydration limits also bogged down the Haney discussions.
Hearn brushed past those figures. When pressed on the rejected $7 million payday alongside the massive guarantee demands, Hearn contended that Zuffa fell short on an agreed bout and tried to slash pay for a replacement matchup.
“He was promised a fight, they couldn’t deliver it, and then they wanted to cut his money and give him another fight,” Hearn stated. “That’s how I read it between the lines.”
That admission is important. Hearn is publicly offering his own slant on why the Zuffa partnership dissolved.
Bringing Shakur into the Matchroom stable means Hearn must fund those huge purses and secure major opponents himself. Strong personal relationships can kick off discussions, yet they do not balance an unprofitable ledger. If Shakur demands that exact financial structure from Matchroom, Hearn will quickly discover that slamming Zuffa is not enough to make the numbers work.
Hearn cannot afford those numbers, and he knows it. Back when Shakur first bolted to Zuffa, Hearn called those eight-figure payouts business suicide. Now that Zuffa choked on the tab and cut him loose, Hearn smells blood in the water. Flattering Shakur costs nothing in an interview, but signing the contract is an entirely different matter.
Nobody in the sport is coughing up fifteen million for Shakur to fight routine opposition. He does not sell pay-per-views, and his defensive, safety-first style has never generated the kind of gate revenue that justifies that scale of compensation. Bob Arum saw the ceiling early, let him walk, and Zuffa just hit the exact same brick wall within months.
Hearn is angling for a massive reality check on Shakur’s side. Matchroom can offer a steady platform on DAZN, but the only way Hearn signs him is if Shakur swallows a steep pay cut for standard defense fights and accepts that eight-figure paydays are strictly reserved for the rare mega-event like Devin Haney or Gervonta Davis.
If Shakur insists that fifteen million is his floor just to step through the ropes against anyone, Hearn will talk a great game for the cameras while quietly letting someone else hold the bag.
