Dana White slams Eddie Hearn after lawsuit threat over Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua fight

Dana White has laughed off Eddie Hearn’s threat to sue him over the Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua fight.

Joshua’s promoter Hearn told About Boxing this week he should be suing UFC CEO and Zuffa Boxing founder White for ‘using my client to do a venue deal’ after reports suggested Fury vs Joshua was all but set to land in New York on November 20.

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Hearn, who has remained firm on his desire to stop the all-British heavyweight blockbuster heading Stateside, made it very clear to talkSPORT earlier this month that he doesn’t want to change the clause in Joshua’s contract, which states it must happen in the UK.

He said White is ‘purporting to have the ability to stage the fight’ after Netflix teased fans with a trailer for Fury vs Joshua on Monday.

However, there has still been no confirmation of a date and venue for Fury vs Joshua and White seems comfortable with the current state of affairs.

White has ‘stopped listening’ to Hearn

“I have not heard [those comments],” White said at a news conference this week when asked about Hearn’s threat to sue him.

“I stopped listening to Eddie Hearn about three months ago. Is there anybody more full of s*** than this guy? Come on.”

When pressed on reports of Fury vs Joshua taking place at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden in late November, White sarcastically responded: “We finally found out where the venue is?”

The UFC boss has previously claimed to have known the venue for the fight for months now.

White continued: “If that’s what the word is [Fury vs Joshua in New York on November 20], then that must be it.”

Asked about reports of the announcement coming next week, White added: “I don’t know.

“You might want to ask the promoters of the fight. Am I promoting the fight? Oh, okay.

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“I’m not going to play these games with these f***ing guys. You know what I mean? Let’s see what happens.”

Is a Fury vs Joshua announcement coming?

While the contract for Fury vs Joshua is signed, Hearn has said with confidence ‘no announcement is imminent.’

He believes Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh and TKO Group Holdings — the parent company of UFC and Zuffa — are under pressure to make an announcement this week.

But Hearn says there is ‘absolutely no agreement to change the contract that we signed,’ meaning if an announcement was made, he could seemingly legally pull the fight altogether.

It’s another roadblock in the whirlwind saga that has surrounded the negotiations for Fury vs Joshua.

Despite ‘The Gypsy King’ claiming this week that ‘big news’ was ‘about to be announced imminently,’ Hearn’s comments make it seem like the deal could collapse altogether if that is the case.

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Unless, of course, Hearn renegotiates Joshua’s contract before then to allow the fight to head Stateside.

Those involved with Fury vs Joshua outside of Matchroom’s Hearn are pushing for the fight to take place in America on November 20 to capitalise on prime-time US viewership.

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