Eddie Hearn fires "embarrassing" jibe at Dana White as Shakur Stevenson walks away from Zuffa Boxing

Eddie Hearn has labelled Zuffa Boxing as "embarrassing" and "finished" after marquee signing Shakur Stevenson sensationally walked away from his multi-million dollar agreement with the promotional giant just months after signing.

The American, who is regarded as one of the sport's current pound-for-pound stars, put pen-to-paper on a reported three-fight deal with Dana White's organisation this summer after ending his long-term association with Hearn's Matchroom stable.

Stevenson revealed that he had opted to pursue the move in a bid to secure the biggest and best fights out there for him at the time, but the four-weight world champion has since grown frustrated with the lack of opportunities being presented to him.

Talks regarding a blockbuster showdown with Devin Haney officially broke down a couple of weeks ago, and now, on the back of that, Stevenson has called time on his Zuffa Boxing stay, revealing in a social media post that he has cut ties with the banner.

Delivering his thoughts on the news, Hearn -- who oversaw Stevenson's rise to global stardom -- believes the American's exit will signal the beginning of the end for UFC supremo White's controversial and much-maligned venture into professional boxing.

"It's unbelievable, like truly unbelievable, I thought it was a publicity stunt, to be honest with you," he revealed to iFL TV on Monday.

"Until Shakur’s team called me and messaged me last night, I thought it was just a kind of stunt for an announcement because it was so bad, so embarrassing, so humiliating for Zuffa that I thought it couldn’t be real.

"It happened and, literally within 30 seconds, I had 50 messages, ‘Oh my God, have you seen this? Zuffa are finished, Zuffa have imploded, Dana White’s head is falling off’, and I thought, ‘nah, this cant be right.’

How can you sign your most high-profile fighter and then he leaves you without even fighting? I don’t think that, in the history of boxing, that has ever happened.

- Eddie Hearn (iFL TV)

"Fair play to Shakur Stevenson though because he has had the balls to say, ‘Listen, this is not the place for me, these people don’t know what they are doing and I need to get out before my career is ruined,’.

"He made that move, his team made that move and now he has got to see what is next."

It's understood Stevenson plans to launch his own management company after ending his short stay with Zuffa, and has already opened the door for discussions with major broadcasting networks.

Hearn has speculated that he wouldn't be surprised to see Stevenson engage in discussions with DAZN -- the same broadcaster that hosts Haney's fights -- as he looks to finally land a lucrative, and potentially career-defining, clash his long-term rival.

"I've been in camp for like eight weeks, preparing for fights that I was told was going to happen and have not happened," Stevenson said overnight.

"It is what it is. This is the business of boxing. I'm not mad at anyone, I'm not pointing fingers.

"The mission is still the same -- I want the biggest and best fights at 135 and 140 pounds, where I hold my title.

"It doesn't matter who you put in front of me, none of these guys can beat me. Give it a year or two, we'll get to 147. Everybody is pressing me to be a 147-pounder. I will get there, but on my time and not on nobody else's."