Eddie Hearn calls Mike Coppinger a Zuffa 'company man' in heated row, Coppinger hits back

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn and The Ring's Mike Coppinger had a heated on-air argument about Zuffa Boxing on The Ring's Inside The Ring show, which aired on Thursday, November 12. Hearn called Coppinger a "company man" for Dana White's promotion. On Friday, November 13, the day before Zuffa Boxing 13, Coppinger hit back on X and said Hearn had been "screaming and practically foaming at the mouth."

How it started

The row began while the panel was talking about Dana White calling Hearn a "bum" and the talk of a Hearn vs White exhibition. Hearn said Zuffa was "collapsing on the floor" as a business. When Coppinger pushed back, Hearn turned on him.

"You know what you are? You're a company man," Hearn said. "Tell me what Zuffa have done this year, when he comes out and he says, 'Watch my body of work after 12 months.' Show me what they've done. Nothing."

Coppinger said White had talked about 12 months, but that Zuffa was on a "three to five year plan." He then pointed to Hearn's own first year with Matchroom USA and named Jessie Vargas vs Thomas Dulorme, a fight he later confirmed on X was from Matchroom's first year in the US.

'The biggest pile of trash'

Hearn went after Zuffa's first year. "These guys came out, they thought they was going to destroy boxing," he said. "They said, 'We don't want to deal with any governing bodies.' They have put on the biggest pile of trash I've ever seen. They signed Shakur Stevenson, who I think is one of the best fighters in boxing. They lost him."

He kept asking Coppinger to give his honest view of Saturday's Zuffa Boxing 13 main event between WBC middleweight champion Carlos Adames and Gerome Warburton. "You're a journalist. You should speak neutrally," Hearn said. "I want you to say it's trash." Coppinger would only say: "It's a stay-busy fight."

Coppinger also brought up the Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua card, saying Hearn had claimed White would not be involved, yet Zuffa had two undercard slots. Hearn answered that White had helped put together "the worst undercard in the history of a mega fight" and complained that there was not one British fighter on it.

'I am on the payroll'

When Hearn said Coppinger wanted to stay on the payroll, the reporter replied: "I am on the payroll. I work for Zuffa." He explained that he works on Zuffa Boxing's broadcasts. Hearn called that proof that "this guy was a company man." Coppinger did give Hearn credit for his work with Anthony Joshua, calling it one of the most successful fighter-promoter relationships of all time.

Later in the segment, Hearn claimed that DAZN had "killed Zuffa" by bringing so many promoters and so much talent under its umbrella that there was "no one there for Zuffa to get."

Coppinger responds

On Friday, as clips of the exchange spread online, Coppinger answered on X. "Of course Eddie is mad. He claimed TKO and Zuffa weren't involved with Fury-Joshua. They have two undercard slots and are producing the event," he wrote. "He wants to take a shot at Zuffa's show tomorrow, a stay-busy fight for Adames. Does he not remember Andrade-Keeler? Or Andrade-Akavov?"

In another post he said Hearn "went full American just shouting over every point I tried to make" and added: "He loves a company man, just as long as it's his company man."

Zuffa Boxing 13, headlined by Adames vs Warburton, takes place on Saturday, November 14. Fury vs Joshua is set for December in Cardiff. Neither White nor Zuffa Boxing had commented on the exchange at the time of publication.