Dana White has revealed information about the structure of TKO’s upcoming boxing league.
TKO, the parent company of UFC and WWE, officially announced the launch of their new boxing promotion, backed by Saudi Arabia and Ring Magazine, earlier this month.
Saudi boxing leader Turki Alalshikh has brought in White to implement the UFC business model, aiming to eventually “crush” competing promotions.
The format of the league quickly became a point of discussion after the announcement, raising questions about boxing’s existing sanctioning organizations.
White has stated that the new promotion will not work with groups like the IBF and WBC, with the goal of having “one belt” per weight division.
In a recent interview with ESPN, the 55-year-old White said, “It’s all going to go away. There’s going to be one belt. It’ll be like the UFC. The model is the same as UFC. The WBC, IBF, WBA, etc., they will deal with the current traditional promoters. We are not going to do that.”
It may take several years for TKO Boxing to sign major fighters, many of whom have existing promotional contracts with companies like Matchroom and Queensberry Promotions.
Furthermore, the prestige of the IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO titles among fighters could also slow down TKO’s efforts to attract top talent.
However, White believes that sanctioning bodies will eventually become irrelevant due to the appeal of the Ring Magazine title.
He added, “We’re going to have the original weight classes. We will have one champion. And you’ll know who the champion is because they will fight their way to the top. Once you get into the top five, you know who the best fighters are in each division. Then we will find out who the champion is. They will defend their titles, and that’s how it will work.”
The launch date for TKO Boxing is not yet known, but Alalshikh, Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, has suggested that the September event between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford could be the promotion’s first show.
During an ESPN appearance, he stated, “Ask Dana when the first event will be in September. Ask him to answer… Maybe it’ll be September 12th.”
