The biggest challenge posed by Dana White and his company TKO Holdings entering the world of boxing is to knock down the structures on which modern boxing has been built over the decades, and although it is not the intention at the outset, by dismissing the organizations that regulate the sport today, White and Turki Alalashikh are sending a strong message about what is to come with their ‘boxing league’.
Too many organisations, champions and titles
Saudi Arabia and The Ring magazine are White’s ideal accomplices to revolutionize professional boxing with a structure that contravenes the way things are done in the sport, which has several organizations that have belts, titles and champions and which raises doubts about how that ‘little’ chaos works.
However, it is not only this factor that is worrying, but also the corruption it generates and which has made the shadow of doubt the main driving force behind a desired new configuration of modern professional boxing that is being imposed by money and from the Middle East.
There have been many voices that have imposed themselves as guides in this controversial matter, and suggest that TKO Holdings is trying to override important principles that have been instituted to protect boxers, such as the ‘Muhammad Ali Act’, a reform of the sport enacted in 2000 that seeks to protect the rights and welfare of fighters with desirable transparency in contracts and the relationship with promoters.
Experts defend the ‘organization’ model
One of those voices is that of boxing expert Dan Rafael, who recently stated on the Fight Freaks Unite podcast that not involving the sanctioning bodies contravenes this law, as so far they control the rankings and title fights in the different divisions, but it is precisely this that White seeks to eliminate with his league, as he accuses these bodies of polluting and corrupting the sport.
Eddie Hearn doesn’t think White’s idea will work
Dana White intends to establish a similar structure to that of UFC, with one champion per division, but there is no good omen for his proposal, not in the world he seeks to dismantle, as personalities such as promoter Eddie Hearn claim that he will not succeed: “I don’t think boxing is broken as Dana White claims. I think Dana has a great position in MMA where you can control the fighter, the publicity, everything. You have to do what you’re told. That’s not 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.”
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