Lou DiBella predicts a challenging future for other boxing promoters following Turki Alalshikh’s public announcement of his collaboration with UFC President Dana White.
The significant news broke last week when the two powerful figures revealed their plans to establish a new boxing promotion together.
Alalshikh, who chairs Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, has already exerted considerable influence over many of boxing’s leading promoters.
White has successfully dominated the MMA world with the UFC, his premier promotion operating under Nick Khan’s TKO Group.
While the specifics of their business agreement are still unclear, it seems Alalshikh and White intend to implement a league format in boxing, similar to the UFC’s structure.
This ambitious strategy is unfavorable for major boxing sanctioning bodies – the WBC, IBF, WBO, and WBA – as White aims to establish a single championship belt per weight division.
By developing a universally accepted ranking system, the UFC head is poised to diminish the influence of these four organizations.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaimán has already declared his intention to resist this change, while his counterparts from the other bodies have yet to respond with similar defiance.
Beyond the sanctioning bodies, Lou DiBella also implies that prominent promoters like Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren, and Oscar De La Hoya – all of whom have broadcasting agreements with DAZN – will gradually lose relevance.
“They criticized me for being a middleman,” DiBella commented about his fellow promoters in a discussion with Ariel Helwani. “Well, guess what? That’s exactly what you’ve become now.”
“I don’t believe that Dana, Nick Khan, or Turki are concerned with coexisting with other promoters in the long term.”
“I think these individuals are looking to build their own entity, and if it achieves sufficient success, they will naturally evolve into the dominant force.”
“None of the major promotional companies currently partnered with DAZN will maintain their current status in five years, and neither will the ratings organizations [sanctioning bodies].”
