DANA White has announced himself as the latest major figure in the boxing world, stepping into the spotlight to help promote the ‘fight of the century’ between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and Terence Crawford.
The UFC CEO is entering the sport through his promotional company, Zuffa Boxing, with the goal of addressing what he sees as the major challenges facing the combat sport.
“I took a lot of things from boxing that I loved and a lot of things from boxing that I hated when I started the UFC,” said White during a podcast with Logan Paul.
“I’m going to do the same thing on the boxing side now. When I grew up Hagler fought Hearns and Leonard fought Hagler and all those guys fought each other.
“Once there was so much money involved and it got so big, guys started talking to other guys and then you’ve got the sanctioning bodies in there, and then none of those guys fought each other, that’s when it started to fall apart and break.”
The 56-year-old also reflected on how a lack of investments in amateur boxing has had a detrimental effect on the sport, particularly in the United States.
“First what I saw, amateur boxing they had the box-offs and it left, it was on one of the big networks and I saw amateur boxing starting to fall apart and I said these guys are in trouble, and we jumped in and started doing our thing.”
Despite the Connecticut native’s view that the sport still faces significant challenges, he believes there has never been a better time to get involved, with boxing at the peak of its popularity yet still offering room for growth.
“Everything in life is about timing, my move into boxing right now is about timing, it’s the perfect time.
“Nobody has a television deal in boxing, there’s some fights on DAZN and that’s it. I’ll come in (in 2026) with a TV deal, we’ll put on great fights and we’ll see what happens.”
