MATCHROOM promoter Eddie Hearn has broken his silence after it was announced that Turki Alalshikh and Dana White will soon introduce their new boxing league.
This partnership between Alalshikh and White was revealed on Wednesday, with the two power brokers promising to blow the competition out of the water.
For quite some time, UFC president White has teased a future involvement in boxing, wishing to completely restructure the sport from top to bottom.
Seemingly, his new promotion with Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, is designed to do just that.
While the pair are set to deliver a boxing league – providing the next generation of fighters with a platform to showcase their skills – their overarching aim appears to be far more ambitious.
In a short interview with the Ring Magazine, White doubled down on his desire to eradicate boxing’s four major sanctioning bodies – the WBC, IBF, WBO and WBA.
Instead, the boss of MMA’s flagship promotion looks to establish one belt per division, while also creating a universally recognised ranking system.
This, of course, is not music to the ears of the likes of WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, who has since insisted that he does not intend to roll over and allow this change to happen.
As for boxing’s remaining promoters, it would appear that, with Alalshikh putting his trust into White, they too could be under threat.
The new Saudi boxing promotion – backed by the might of combat sports juggernaut TKO – is, after all, expected to secure a major broadcast deal with ESPN.
And so, while the likes of Hearn and Frank Warren continue to benefit from Riyadh Season, their involvement in Alalshikh’s next project remains uncertain.
Hearn, however, has expressed an interest in working alongside White, while also insisting that Matchroom will survive regardless of any further injection of Saudi funds.
“Would I like to work with Dana White? Yeah, of course,” Eddie Hearn told Boxing News’ Andi Purewal.
“We’ve got a great relationship, [White’s] a very smart guy. I don’t know anything about the league, really, to tell you how or if we’ll be involved.
“We’re very happy with our relationship with [Alalshikh]. If it all stopped tomorrow, we go back to having a massive business with 35 dates a year, globally.
“But we love working with Riyadh Season and [Alalshikh].”
