Eddie Hearn reacts to Dana White signing Jai Opetaia: “That’s probably where the problem started”

Jai Opetaia recently became Dana White and Zuffa Boxing’s first championship signing. He had previously been co-promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom.

Opetaia first became IBF World Champion back in 2022. He was stripped in 2023 for refusing to face a mandatory challenger, but promptly won the belt back a year later. He has since been calling loudly for unification fights, particularly against WBA and WBO titleholder Gilberto Ramirez.

The feared cruiserweight king announced his move earlier this week ahead of Zuffa’s inaugural card in Las Vegas. It is a statement signing by boxing’s newest show in town, but led to some confusion amongst fans.

White has made made it clear in recent months that he does not intend to work with the sport’s four main sanctioning bodies, and was expected to focus on the Ring Magazine belt as well as creating a Zuffa title. However, when revealing he had signed with the UFC boss, Opetaia said he was still looking to gain the other three recognised belts.

Speaking to IFL TV, Hearn revealed that the partnership — a co-promotion with Tasman Fighters — had began to dwindle over the last six months.

“We haven’t promoted Jai ourselves in over two years, since the Jordan Thompson fight. Everything that we’ve done around Jai is with Mick Francis and Tasman Fighters. The last three fights, which have all been in Australia, we haven’t been the promoter of. The first fight, we, with Turki Alalshikh, provided quite a lot of money for sponsorship. The second fight against the Italian guy, we weren’t involved at all. And the third fight, which is probably where the problem came, DAZN turned it down.

“They didn’t make an offer to air the fight. I kind of feel like over that period, we haven’t been doing too much. More importantly, I wasn’t able to deliver Jai the fights people want to see him in. Which is not his fault, and really not my fault, because Zurdo Ramirez wasn’t available or didn’t really fancy the fight in my opinion.”

Hearn then recognised that the champion had to make a decision to benefit his career after ‘treading water’, going on to praise the deal with the caveat that it delivers unification fights.

“Hopefully this deal can give him what he wants. I know there’s a confusion of Zuffa aren’t recognising belts but Jai and Mick [Francis] are saying this is going to take us to undisputed fights. I think the messaging is all over the place, it doesn’t really matter. The problem is still going to be delivering him those fights. You’ve got Benavidez-Zurdo in May, so those guys aren’t going to be available till November, December.

“So, what’s the plan for Jai? Presumably, if the plan is true to its word, he will unify. There’s only one other champion, so he will fight WBC Champion, Mikaelian, next. Which I think is brilliant for him. So as long as he does that, and as long as that actually happens, I think this has been the best move that Jai and Mick can make.”

News on Opetaia’s first fight under the Zuffa Boxing banner is expected soon, and White has now said that he will initially work with the major sanctioning bodies in situations like this one.