Eddie Hearn said Dana White was forced to back away after talking up the expected Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury fight, saying the UFC chief “got his bum slapped” over his remarks. Hearn told Fight Hub TV that White’s comments at a recent press conference prompted Zuffa Boxing to pull down posts about them the following week.
The dispute matters now because the fight people keep asking about still has not been officially announced, even though reports say both sides agreed to the matchup in late 2026. White had claimed to know where the fight is going to be and briefly presented himself as the promoter, only for Hearn and Frank Warren to knock that down almost immediately. That left the latest round of talk less about the bout itself than about who gets to speak for it.
Hearn’s version of events suggests the pushback went beyond a public rebuttal. He said Zuffa Boxing was told to remove all posts regarding White’s press conference comments, and he mocked the retreat with the line, “Good boy Dana, take your posts down.” He also dismissed the claim with, “What’s the f—’s this guy talking about?” before adding, “Oh, don’t worry about it.”
The friction has become part of the story around Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury because the matchup remains in limbo even as each side keeps moving toward its own schedule. Joshua is set to face Kristian Prenga on July 25, while Fury is rumored to be taking a tune-up matchup on August 1. Those dates do not settle the bigger question, but they show how the public countdown keeps running while the fight itself stays unannounced.
That is why Hearn’s latest jab landed: it was not just another promoter dig, but evidence that control of the conversation still matters as much as the deal itself. Until the fight is officially announced, every claim about where it will happen and who is running it will keep drawing a response, and possibly another takedown.
