Eddie Hearn filled the gaps left by Shakur Stevenson, who remained non-committal when asked about the rumored Zuffa move. According to the Matchroom head, the 4-division champion is now with Dana White’s boxing promotion.

“Shakur signed with Zuffa, so that will be him moving forward,” he told a Fight Hub TV reporter.

The English promoter’s comments follow the matchup talks that have been sparked by the in-ring exchange between Shakur Stevenson and O’Shaquie Foster at the Fertitta Center in Houston, where Foster fought Stevenson’s close friend Ray Ford.

But the revelation also triggered an intense online debate after several fans criticized Eddie Hearn for dismissing the matchup because of payout issues.

“But I just don’t know who they’re going to put him in with because, you see, Zuffa is paying the like as a business,” he added. “They’re paying these guys five times more than anybody else to fight. Who, like, who are you going to put? You put what? You’re going to put Shakur in with O’Shaquie Foster and give him $15 million? I mean, good luck to Shakur. I love him. I said to him, “He’s f**king great, mate.” But yeah, it’s a weird, weird model, and it’s a model that’s not going to last very long.”

Hearn centered his argument around the methods Dana White and he have adopted recently, pulling well-known boxing figures into their stable after offering them major paydays. One example is the reported one-fight, $15 million offer Zuffa made to Matchroom’s long-time fighter Conor Benn in February.

According to Hearn, you can’t keep paying elite fighters enormous guarantees unless the fights generate enough revenue to support those payouts.

To several fans, however, that argument rang hollow because by claiming Zuffa is offering a massive payout, Hearn appeared to contradict his own past comments.

Fans poke holes in Eddie Hearn’s Shakur Stevenson argument

“First it was Zuffa is bad for boxing and won’t pay,” one fan wrote. “Now they pay too much and won’t last. You heard him, Zuffa is paying 5x more. 😂 Shakur can fight anyone. Boxers are allowed to cross over if they pay 25-35%. That’s no issue with Zuffa and Ring willing to cover the fee.”

They were obviously pointing to the time last year when reports regarding Zuffa’s pay scale surfaced. “I was with a manager the other day who told me about an offer that (Zuffa Boxing) made to one of their fighters,” he told Boxing Social. “I couldn’t believe how bad the money was.”

Another echoed that sentiment, saying, “The original narrative was that Zuffa was going to be UNDERPAYING athletes; therefore, they could not compete in boxing because they wouldn’t be able to sign the proper talent. Now Eddie is bit**ing about Zuffa OVER paying. I swear you can’t win with these fools. 🤣🤣”

Offering a more balanced take on the situation, one wrote, “Well, I don’t know if you know this, but they just signed a billion-dollar deal with Paramount. So they could have Shakur fight the Easter bunny, and it doesn’t matter. Now you have to compete with that. So now it becomes a starvation game. Who starves first?”

That reality becomes hard to ignore, given how Zuffa has positioned itself through the Paramount deal and Saudi backing, creating a level of financial security that now appears capable of threatening boxing’s traditional power structure.

Offering another perspective, a user stated, “Silicon Valley strategy. Operate at a loss to pull fighters in/eliminate the competition. Once they have a full roster, they pull the switcheroo, and it becomes UFC boxing.” To that point, Zuffa is already operating in a way similar to the UFC, staging events at regular events, attracting talent from rival promotions, and continuing to raise expectations with its shows.

Yet, despite the backlash over Hearn’s remarks, some still found flaws in the Zuffa model itself. “Since Zuffa doesn’t have a 140-pound division, where does he stand??” Considering its stated objective is to eliminate the “in-between” weight classes and retain the more traditional 8 divisions, Stevenson’s position at 140 pounds – light welterweight could become an issue.

Still, Stevenson’s situation, even if only rumored at this stage, appears to be frustrating established promoters who now find themselves dealing with the growing challenge posed by Dana White and Zuffa Boxing.

As much as boxing promoters want the sport’s biggest names fighting each other, the old guard now finds itself competing against a rapidly growing powerhouse with enormous financial backing.