Anthony Joshua received an offer to quit Matchroom and join Dana White's Zuffa Boxing, his promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed.
Conor Benn confirmed on February 20 that he had left Matchroom to join Zuffa Boxing, which is backed by UFC president White and funded, in part, by Saudi Arabia.
According to reports, Benn has signed a one-fight deal for an eight-figure sum believed to be in the region of $15 million.
Last week, Hearn signed reigning UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall to the newly-founded Matchroom Talent Agency.
Advert
As chairman of the agency, Hearn will 'manage and service leading talent with care and loyalty', as well as 'nurturing athletes' careers by managing their brand and building their reputations'.
Hearn told iFL TV that he was 'pretty devastated' at Benn deciding to exit Matchroom, adding that he had 'a few back-and-forths' with the 29-year-old after he was informed of his decision.
"I just felt, everything that we gave him, the loyalty that we gave him, the support we gave him would be enough to talk it through and get close to a number," Hearn said. "But there wasn't really the interest.
"Very surprising. Very painful. But just another moment in life that you live and learn from."
The Matchroom chief's devastation would have been compounded had his most high-profile boxing client, Anthony Joshua, decided to accept an offer from White and Zuffa.
But during an appearance on 'The Ariel Helwani Show', Hearn revealed that Joshua informed him of the approach immediately, and had no intention of accepting it.
"You know, and he won't mind me saying it, but AJ had an approach about a couple of weeks ago," he said.
"Do you know how quickly he sent me the message, the screenshot? Seconds. [He said] 'Let me know what you want to reply'.
"It's like, we're a team, mate. Until the wheels come off, we are a team. And I've got your back, always."
Hearn identifies major Zuffa 'problem'
During the same appearance, Hearn pinpointed Dana White's recent press conference comments as potentially being a major issue when it comes to UFC fighters.
"Dana White was sitting in a press conference last night and he says, 'Conor Benn making all this money, this is great for UFC fighters'. How?
"Basically every UFC fighter is looking at that going, 'This just doesn't make sense'.
"And you can't just hide behind the fact that, 'Oh, Turki [Alalshikh] is paying that bill'. No, it's the same company.
"I'm enjoying sitting back, looking at all the press conferences, and being baffled by what I'm hearing.
"Probably for the first time in my career - and this was very much the case with the Tom Aspinall stuff - I'm going to work in some silence. Because I need to get this right.
"It's going to be very, very interesting what is going to unfold over the next couple of months."
Topics: Anthony Joshua, Eddie Hearn, Conor Benn, Dana White, UFC, Boxing
Ryan Smart