Dana White's Entry into Boxing
We learned that a new player will be entering boxing in the near future. UFC CEO Dana White is following in the MMA footsteps of Conor McGregor, Francis Ngannou, Anderson Silva and Nate Diaz: chasing bigger paydays in boxing. This endeavor, announced with Turki Al-Sheikh, the Chairman of the Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Fund, would see Dana and Turki working together to fix boxing by making "the best fight the best", the UFC model. What does that mean for you, the fan and the boxers themselves?
The Vision: Fixing Boxing with the UFC Model
How will a UFC model, backed by a nearly $700 billion Saudi slush fund, work in boxing? We know that Turki Al-Sheikh recently bought the historic Ring Magazine, one of boxing's oldest institutions. It is not simply a magazine with traditionally independent rankings but it also comes with the Ring Magazine Belt. The difference between the Ring Magazine belt and the other sanctioning bodies' belt is a simple but subtle one. The Ring Magazine is passed down to "lineal champ". That means you only win the belt by beating the last guy who had it. No vacant belts or being "elevated" to a champion.
You might ask yourself, "Why should I care about some rich guy who bought a magazine that gives away belts?". Let me tell you how this will likely play out.
One Belt to Rule Them All
We have seen Dana and Turki do a slew of media interviews following their announcement. In some of those we have learned tidbits about what they want to do. Dana and Turki don't want to deal with the confusion of having four different belts. Instead they will be going to a one belt model.
We saw this in action by Turki in the recent promotion of the Canelo Alvarez vs William Skull fight. Turki told Canelo to get his other belts off the stage. The only belt seen during the face off... You guessed it. The Ring Magazine Belt. One belt to rule them all, one belt to find them, one belt to bring them together, and in the darkness bind them; in the land of Saudi Arabia where the promoters lie.
The Pay Structure: Will it Work in Boxing?
Ok, so now we know they are going full Sauron with the Ring Magazine Belt. But how will they actually make that happen? The UFC is notorious for their business model of paying their fighters, at the most 20% of the revenue while the men behind the desks pocket the other 80%. That doesn't work in boxing. In boxing the fighters take home the 70-80% of revenue while the promoters fight to scrap together, at most, the remaining 30%.
Well lucky for us there has been some reporting on what Dana & Friends will allegedly be offering.
The ALLEGED payout system:
- $20,000 for a 10 round bout by an unranked fighter
- $50,000 when fighters ranked #5 to #10 fight
- $125,000 when fighters ranked #3 to #4 fight
- $375,000 when a fighter is challenging for "the one true belt"
- $750,000 when a fighter is defending "the one true belt"
Wow, that's a lot more money than most of us could ever dream of making for 30 to 36 minutes of work. Here's the catch. A fighter who has any name recognition or pedigree will look at this structure and laugh. Let me give you some examples.
Comparing Payouts: UFC vs. Boxing
Keyshawn Davis, a blue chip prospect, with Top Rank. You may have seen him fighting recently on ESPN, where he won his first world title in just his 13th fight. For that fight as the challenger, Davis was guaranteed $425,000. Keyshawn is only a name the hardcore boxing fans know and he has surpassed his earnings in Dana's model already.
Now let's look at what some of the big boys in boxing earn. We won't cherry pick so I will just give you numbers from their last fights.
- Canelo Alvarez vs Edgar Berlanga; Canelo reportedly walked away with $35 million
- Gervonta 'Tank' Davis vs Lamont Roach: Tank allegedly got $10-15 million
- Oleksandr Uysk vs Tyson 'The Gypsy King' Fury 2: Usyk reportedly earned $108 million while Tyson Fury earned a measly $87 million
- Ryan Garcia vs Devin Haney: RyGuy PEDed his way to a reported payday of $5-10 million while Haney's chin earned him reportedly $15-20 million
The Long Game: Building a Pipeline
Are you starting to see the issue Dana may run into? Hard to take the UFC's catchphrase of "The best fight the best" seriously if you can only afford supermarket cashiers against highschool gym teachers (don't let UFC fans hear you bring up the fact that UFC Heavyweight Champ Jon Jones has not fought interim Heavyweight Champ Tom Aspinal, a matchup fans have been clamoring for and the UFC has even scheduled Aspinal to defend the interim title while allowing Jones to fight an inactive 42 year old with bad hips). The only way Dana's format becomes viable is if the goal is not to compete with the big names for the next 10 years. Dana likely aims to begin gobbling up prospects to slowly build their brand. They won't be able to sign any real talent for a very long time based on the low pay, and if UFC contracts are anything to go by, the terms will heavily favor Dana. Now, if Dana and Turki can get a stranglehold on the prospect pipelines while turning off those same pipelines for their competition. The other promotions will wither away.
The Future of Boxing: What's at Stake?
So, what am I trying to say? The immediate future of high level boxing is not likely to change much. The impact in the next 10 to 20 years, however, could be devastating to boxing, and would be mostly felt by the fighters. The men and women giving us entertainment by shortening their years of quality life would see less in return financially.
The fans could see some positives. Having one recognized belt could be fun! Having to remember the WBO, WBC, WBA, IBF, IBS, CEO, WCW, and on and on(eye spy challenge: can you pick out the 4 legitimate belts?), is definitely confusing and can get ridiculous. That said, is having one belt worth the risk of the sport turning into a monopoly? There are endless stories of the extremely elite UFC fighters getting paid embarrassingly low amounts for the revenue and interest they generate. Even Conor McGregor, the highest earning UFC fighter of all time, only received a reported $3.4 million for his last fight. If Dana and Turki follow the UFC model, fighters should be worried. Boxing is a wild and unpredictable sport, but I am hoping for an early stoppage.