War of Promoters: Mayweather Promotions vs. Eddie Hearn

It’s hard to trace back who fired the first shot in this feud, but Floyd Mayweather right hand man, Ellerbe, landed the first major blow with his scathing assessment of the British promoter’s ability to make waves in the US market.

In a recent video interview with Fighthype.com, Ellerbe went into the business of matchmaking in relation to his fighter Gervonta "Tank" Davis and then moved on to a sharp swipe at Hearn.

"There’s been a lot of noise ‘you ain’t fought this guy, you ain’t fought this guy’ – who the f— are we talking about?! Fought who?! I don’t see no King Kongs out there," Ellerbe told Fight Hype. "One says ’Oh, Teo Lopez’ – duh, do ya’ll know how this f—in’ game works? There’s no f—in’ way that Bob Arum is gonna put his kid in there with a guy that. Bob knows this sh– but he has two excellent matchmakers who know how this sh– would go in the ring. They know no Teo Lopez can beat Tank Davis.

"So what, you just gonna hand the titles over to Mayweather Promotions and PBC? It’s like, no, it doesn’t work like that. Bob’s gonna make the fight with the guys that he has and build his guy that way. You not just gonna jump into a fight with a guy – especially with a guy who’s never, ever headlined a show. Ain’t sold one f—in’ ticket, but Bob’s gonna put him in with that? Does that even make any sense?!

"Then you fast forward to [Devin] Haney. I know Devin very well, a tremendous fighter, he grew up in this gym. Excellent fighter. He signed with a promoter [Hearn]who don’t know what the f— he’s doing, he’s f—ed off over a billion dollars and still hasn’t built one f—in’ star in the United States. I applaud Bill [Haney], a very smart guy. And I applaud Devin. They signed with a guy, they made a bunch of f—in’ money, and that’s what they are supposed to do! But, again, it’s like ain’t no slight on them, but when you talking about Tank Davis I gotta pay you what you weigh.

"And you can just read in between the lines with that. It had nothing to do with Devin not being a tremendous fighter, but as far as being a draw, it’s self-explanatory. So you can’t make a fight like that."

Hearn, of course, was eager to fire back, referencing a possible signing of Gervonta Davis, whose contract with Mayweather Promotions is up after his pay-per-view clash with Rolly Romero this coming May 28.

"If I don’t know what I’m doing, why am I 100 times bigger than Leonard Ellerbe?" Hearn told Pro Boxing Fans.

"Why are we the biggest global promotional company in the world bar none? And Leonard Ellerbe is not even relevant actually in the boxing industry.

"When you talk about the top promoters in the world, do you mention Leonard Ellerbe? Let’s be honest, not in a millions years.

"This guy is hilarious. He is so angry, he has lost his mind. I need to take him out for a nice cup of tea

"But, how can you say this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing? Look at me, we’re the biggest in the game. What are you? Nothing, you work for Floyd Mayweather."

"Can you imagine if we sign Gervonta Davis?

"Now I’m not saying we’re going to approach Gervonta Davis.

"But let me tell you, if Gervonta Davis’ contract is up and only then would we speak to him, what were we saying about those billion dollars? We’ve got to open up the case, baby!

"Because, I would definitely overpay to sign Gervonta Davis, just for the banter with Leonard Ellerbe."

Well, there you go. I guess, when the fighters aren’t fighting, it’s a good thing for the businessmen to start taking some swings at one another. Stay tuned.