TKO Holdings is making big moves in the sport of boxing. Having conquered the MMA world with UFC and wrestling with WWE, the parent company has set its sights on the sweet science. And they are being backed by Saudi and The Ring in doing so. TKO Holdings recently announced the launch of their new boxing league, which will do things differently from how the boxing business has been done thus far.
UFC honcho Dana White, who will look over the day-to-day operations of the league, has revealed that they wouldn’t indulge any of the pre-existing alphabet sanctioning bodies. It’s worth noting that the variety of belts and their sub-titles from these sanctioning bodies have long convoluted the sport with multiple titles and their multiple champions, causing confusion among many.
White aims to eliminate that and have just one champion per division, who will have to climb the ladder to achieve that title. This is exactly what’s been done in the UFC and it’s also the reason, Royal Advisor His Excellency Turki Alalshikh has claimed his partnership with White will crush their competition a.k.a other promotional companies.
White’s intentions might be in the right place but during his appearance in the Fight Freaks Unite podcast, veteran boxing Journalist Dan Rafael pointed out that not involving the sanctioning bodies goes against the Muhammad Ali Act [Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act]. The act was enacted back in 2000 to protect the rights and welfare of professional boxers, aiming to increase transparency in boxing contracts and prevent exploitation by promoters.
Sanctioning bodies play a significant role in the Muhammad Ali Act because they control fighter rankings and title fights. The Act regulates their actions to ensure fairness, and transparency, preventing corruption. However, many still accuse them of engaging in favoritism and politics, keeping the system flawed. Regardless, when Rafael made his point, White seemed to disregard the issue entirely, suggesting they would have to come up with a solution.
“Yeah, we gotta figure that out,” White said. “I am not interested in working with sanctioning bodies. I have no interest whatsoever.” However, the UFC CEO claimed His Excellency would continue working with the sanctioning bodies, still as far as his boxing league is concerned, “Not with the thing that I am working on. I am working on not working with them.”
While Dana White seems upbeat about his new boxing league, his claims that boxing is broken have met with disagreement from an existing behemoth of the sport.
Eddie Hearn reacts to new boxing league after Dana White said boxing is broken
On a handful of instances since the announcement of the boxing league, White has claimed that “boxing is broken,” while talking about his ambition to build the sport from the ground up. Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn disagrees, stating, “I think it’s great for boxing. One thing I disagree with is boxing’s not broken.”
“Boxing is in a great place, it always has been. There’s always ways we can improve it, but the fact those guys want to come into boxing shows where it’s at,” he added. Meanwhile, TKO president Mark Shapiro criticized the Muhammad Ali Act, which dictates how contracts are written and limits the time a boxer can be signed to a promotion company.
So, Hearn believes the UFC model won’t be suitable for boxing. “I think Dana has a great spot [in MMA] where you can control the fighter, the commercial, everything. You have to do what you’re told,” Hearn said. “That’s not really going to work in boxing. Also, fighters are drastically overpaid in boxing and the margins in MMA are different, so it’s going to be interesting.”
Having said that, Dana White seems to be looking for a workaround in the Ali Act to avoid working with sanctioning bodies. Only time will tell whether he succeeds in doing that, until then, everyone is looking forward to seeing what the UFC CEO would do. What are your thoughts on White’s statements?
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