Devin Haney discredited Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn on social media this past Saturday for not granting him free tickets for the September 21st Dubois-Joshua card. While Haney attended the event, presumably with his own bought tickets, a social media post he released regarding Hearn became compounded with the two clashing publicly amidst the September 21st event―an incident that was captured on camera by provisionally suspended British fighter Conor Benn.
According to former WBC super lightweight (140 lbs) champion Devin Haney (31-0, 15 KO’s), he was in London on September 21st, the day of the Dubois-Joshua event, but did not receive any tickets for the event by Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn. It should be noted the event was mainly organized by Riyadh Season, with Matchroom and several other British promotions seeming to have played a lesser role in organizing the event.
Later that same day, the two were spotted publicly arguing during the September 21st event, which was supposedly related to the fact Hearn had not offered Haney any tickets. Following September 21st, Hearn was approached on his view on what happened, and the Matchroom chairman revealed a significant piece of information that Haney notably excluded in his social media post.
“It was heated,” Hearn stated to Boxing News as he spoke on his public confrontation with Devin Haney. “I just couldn’t believe―bear in mind the relationship I got with Devin, bear in mind eveyrthing we’ve been through, I could not believe he would put that out on social media, because he was moaning, and this is what he was trying to say to me.
“I received a message from him at 6 o’clock (6 AM) on the day of the fight saying, ‘I need tickets for Joshua-Dubois’. He messaged me, I think, 24 hours before saying, ‘Yo’, and I had so much going on I didn’t reply.
“And then when I replied [on] Friday night [September 20th] he messaged me back Saturday 6 o’clock in the morning [asking], ‘I need tickets for tonight’. Firstly, all the ringside tickets were pre-assigned with ‘His Excellency’ [Turki Alalshikh] and those people. Plus, we had months’ notice from our [Matchroom] fighters who put in requests [for tickets] that we sorted out, so at that point we just don’t have the tickets.
“So I said, ‘Look, it’s not solely our show. We’re just working on the event. You may have to ask Riyadh Season for the tickets’. No reply. So then I’m sitting there at the show and he’s like, ‘Wow, Eddie Hearn didn’t get me tickets, He’s just so two-faced’. And then I replied and said, ‘You’re an arrogant, f****** prick’ to be honest with you.
“And [then] I pulled him at the show and I said, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’. And he said, ‘What are you―oh hey, hey’. I said, ‘No, not hey, hey. What are you doing?’. I said, ‘One, you couldn’t be more arrogant. Two, why are you just not messaging me after I messaged you?’.“
Eddie Hearn explained the two devolved into a back-and-forth where Devin Haney questioned whether Hearn couldn’t get him tickets, while Hearn admonished Haney for his arrogant behavior and immaturity―which was apparently the incident caught on camera by Conor Benn (23-0, 14 KO’s). Hearn further remarked to Boxing News that he told Haney any of his remarks made during interviews were not personally-directed at him.
“I said, ‘No I’m just answering questions. I don’t represent you’,” Hearn said, stating what he told Haney when he was confronted on comments in the media Haney had felt affronted by. “I said, ‘If I get asked about Devin Haney, I’m gonna tell you what I think about the situation’. And I never said anything disrespectful. I said, ‘But you have. Don’t ever disrespect me again’.“
Interestingly, this incident might soon be viewed more clearly as Hearn is currently filming a documentary for Netflix depicting his work with Matchroom, and the promotional outfit’s operations. amongst other things.
Haney’s confrontation with Hearn appears to have been sparked by past comments the Matchroom chairman made, as Hearn would allude to. Earlier this year, there had been a similar incident between the two after Hearn had not bid on a purse bid involving Spanish 140 lbs contender Sandor Martin (42-3, 15 KO’s) and then-WBC 140 lbs champion Haney. Notably, Hearn had explained his reasoning for not being involved in the purse bid, revealing he was not Haney’s promoter and was therefore not obligated to bid for a fight he felt was not lucrative enough.
Devin Haney was, however, signed to Matchroom between 2019 and 2021 up until he left them to temporarily join Top Rank in a successful bid to become undisputed at lightweight (135 lbs). The two worked together again during Haney’s title fight against then-WBC 140 lbs champion and Matchroom fighter Regis Prograis (29-2, 24 KO’s), and Hearn was further involved in Haney’s now-infamous match against Ryan Garcia (24-1, 20 KO’s) in April―though according to Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya, Matchroom was not officially involved, highlighting the amicable relationship that had existed between Hearn and Haney,
