LOU DIBELLA envisions a bleak future for his fellow boxing promoters after Turki Alalshikh flaunted his new partnership with UFC president Dana White.
The monumental bombshell was detonated a week ago, when the two uncompromising power brokers announced that, together, they will soon launch a new boxing promotion.
Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, has already established his influence over most of the sport’s leading promoters.
White, meanwhile, has unquestionably monopolised the world of MMA with his flagship promotion, operating under the umbrella of Nick Khan’s TKO Group.
So while the nuts and bolts of their business deal remain unclear, it would appear that, similar to the UFC, Alalshikh and White will look to adopt a league format for boxing.
This ambitious plan, of course, is bad news for the sport’s major sanctioning bodies – the WBC, IBF, WBO and WBA – with White wishing to establish one belt per weight class.
By creating a universally recognised ranging system, the UFC boss is set to remove an enormous amount of influence from the four alphabet organisations.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán, however, has already insisted that he will not go down without a fight, while his three counterparts, on the other hand, are yet to react with the same belligerence.
And yet, not only are the sanctioning bodies in trouble, but veteran promoter Lou DiBella has also suggested that the likes of Eddie Hearn, Frank Warren and Oscar De La Hoya – all boasting broadcast deals with DAZN – will slowly fade into obscurity.
“They were doubting me for being a middleman,” DiBella said of his fellow promoters when speaking with Ariel Helwani. “Well guess what motherf***ers? That’s what you are now.
“I don’t think that, in the long run, Dana, Nick [Khan] or Turki care about coexisting with [other promoters].
“I think those guys want to build their own thing and, if their own thing is successful enough, organically they will [become] the dominant powerhouse.
“None of the major four promotional companies that have deals with DAZN will be what they are now in five years; none of the ratings organisations [sanctioning bodies] will be what they are in five years.”
