Eddie Hearn, Dana White and Tyson Fury Have Been Making all the Noise. But it appears that AJ is the one in control
He's the one key player who's been absent from all the drama surrounding the "Battle of Britain". We've heard plenty from UFC boss, Dana White, who insists he's the promoter of this event. Equally vocal has been the Matchroom supremo, Eddie Hearn, who has told reporters at every opportunity that Dana is contractually barred from being involved.
Tyson Fury has weighed in, calling Hearn and AJ a couple of cowards who are trying to get out of the fight.
AJ popped up on Instagram today, but not to call anyone names or defend his integrity in any way. He did a playful impression of Floyd Mayweather and performed a few pull-ups.
But behind the scenes, AJ it seems, is all action.
According to Eddie Hearn, it was thanks to AJ that the fight will now be staged n the UK. Turki Al-Sheikh, Dana White, Netflix, TKO - they all wanted it in the US. Someone even went behind Eddie Hearn's back and offered AJ a multi-million dollar "sweetener" to go against the wishes of the UK fight fans and box Fury in New York.
This had the opposite effect. AJ doubled down on his insistence that the fight between two UK fighters should be in Britain. Shortly afterwards, it was announced that Cardiff's Principality Arena would be the venue.
The other issue threatening the fight was the drug testing. AJ complied with a clause in his contract and enrolled with VADA immediately after signing the contract several months ago.
Bizarrely, no such requirement was present in the version of the contract that Tyson Fury signed, so he didn't enrol.
AJ didn't scream and shout about it. He simply shared a message by VADA's Dr Margaret Goodman, in which she asked for Fury's whereabouts and expressed surprise that both boxers hadn't enrolled on the anti-doping programme at the same time.
AJ could have said a lot, given the fact that Fury once served a ban from boxing after testing positive for a steroid. But he chose not to.
It seems that AJ made it clear that he had no intention of flying from his Dubai home to attend the launch press conference on Wednesday, unless Fury submitted to drugs testing.
With just a day to go, we hear that Fury has now enrolled, and AJ is on his way.
As I mentioned, Dana White's involvement was another threat to the promotion. Interesting then, that during the commentary for White's own Zuffa show, Max Kellerman made a point of downplaying Dana's role, saying he was merely acting as an assistant to Turki Al-Sheikh.
Who gave Kellerman that information, and why did he share it so conspicuously, just before Dana White had to face a barrage of questions from journalists in London? Whoever it was, must have been anxious to remove a major obstacle.
Dana is still involved in some capacity, but AJ's decision to attend the press conference suggests that he is now satisfied. If AJ is happy, then Eddie Hearn will likely have to accept the situation.
