For or Against: Saudis buying out every boxing promotion to be under one entity

If Turki Alalshikh does indeed move forward with buying out Top Rank, Golden Boy, Matchroom, Queensberry, PBC do you think this would be better for the sport?

https://www.givemesport.com/saudi-a...-to-revolutionize-the-entire-sport-of-boxing/

 

Pretty much a given that it's a huge positive.

 

Yeah, I totally agree with this. I mean, if this Shiek guy or his majesty can purchase or buy out the different promotion companies, like TopRank, Matchroom, Goldenboy, it can only be a positive, in my opinion. I mean, he's got deep pockets to make fights happen. That's always been a problem in boxing where fights don't get made. I remember in the 90s, there was a lot of fights that I wanted to see that never really happened, like Roy Jones fight Darius. I mean, we heard about it all over the Internet, you know, where Jones was ducking Darius. And, you know, we always wanted to see Mike Tyson fight Lennox Lewis. And there's a lot of fights. I mean, if we can look back and think, like, how many times did they prevent fights from happening, these different promoting companies, the different TV stations, HBO versus Showtime, and all this nonsense. I just think that it's a great thing for boxing. I think the Arab can make things happen. And why not? I mean, it can only be positive. It can't be any worse than these crooks that are already in boxing, like Bob Arum and Oscar De La Hoya and all these crooks that are out just to get money. I mean, PBC is the worst. I mean, they had their stable of fighters just fighting bums for a lot of money. And the only people who were getting screwed was us, you know, the boxing fans, for having to pay for that crap. I don't know how many times I watched, what's his name, Boo Boo fight a bunch of bums on a Saturday night, when it's supposed to be a big fight. And it's just him fighting bums. I mean, just, I don't think his Majesty would do that. I think he would put up fights we want to see. He would make things happen, you know, with all the money he got. Because you know he's not in it for the money. He's in it for whatever. I mean, it's definitely not the money.

 

Dana White channeling his inner De Niro when talking about Turki: "I want him DEAD! I want his family DEAD! I want his house burned to the GROUND!"

 

That's what Dana wanted to do in the first place... it would be way better off with Dana doing it...Saudis doing it could get weird.... the ring card girls would be gone... they could implement really harsh penalties for swearing/trash talking... weed... etc... who knows what muslim spin they would put on it...

 

REED is for the "Greater Good of BOXING"...If That Soooo Happens to Entail Saudi Involvement, REED Couldn't Care Less...

Good for BOXING? Good for REED...



REED

 

I guess for but I don't know shit about this guy.

If he buys out all the promoters, he still has to deal with the alphabet organizations. They're not going to go for this shit.

 

If he offers guys what they desire, the big fights fans want to see will be made whether or not any belts are on the line

 

Hell, if he really buys all these promoters, hell probably creates his own belt

 

How does this guy plan to have smaller cards around the globe without keeping these promoters' employees on for quality control? Matchmakers , publicists etc

It's great to make all the major league fights fans want to see but he'd still need to put on hundreds of shows a year to build new stars and that type of infrastructure isn't easy to build

 

He Needs to Keep Them Intact, But Reserve FINAL SAY On All Boxing Matters to Himself.

Boxing’s Problem is EVERYBODY Wants to be Batman, But NOBODY Wants to Be Robin. His Excellency Needs to Pay the Existing Promoters to Be Robin, so HE Can Fill the Batman Role…

Dana White is the Only Batman in UFC, Which is WHY It Works.



REED

 

Three words UFC business model

 

According to NY Times:

Saudi boxing chiefs led by His Excellency Turki Alalshikh are reportedly in talks with the sport’s major promotional companies about a revolutionary deal to bring them together and create a global boxing league. It's claimed around 200 of the world's best boxers could be signed (12 weight classes having around 15 boxers each) to fight against each other regularly in future, reshaping the landscape of the entire sport.

 

The losers in this new scheme would be guys who make millions fighting show case opponents.

 

Sounds good….but difficult to pull off. Before the UFC there was nothing, so every mma fighter were pull towards it to make a few thousand per fight…

but what’s stopping the new Mejican, African American sensation from signing to an upstart promotion in the states?

what happens when the big name fight dry up? It happens in the UFC the names today are not as big as McGregor, Lesner, Liddell, Penn, etc… everyone wants to see Canelo v Crawford cool Canelo wins then fight Benevidez….Benevidez wins he isn’t as big as star as the other 2…and nobody/only hardcore fans care to pay for Benevidez v Bivol/Beter….boxing will be like the UFC hyping some 4-0 guy to death, just to see him put to sleep or tap out by some Un rank guy.

The sanctioning bodies???…..that’s easy Ahmet Abdullah will create one world champion per division….the alphabets are OUT.

 

It seems weird talking about all these changes when the sport has been unchanged for 200 years since the 1800's under the queensbury rules. And I'm not sure I like it.

 

Which 12 weight classes?

The best this guy can do is create Super Six-like tournaments with the different weight classes. No way to lock down the sport under one umbrella.

 

Super six or 8 at 135-140 would be incredible…..Teo, Matias, Cruz, Haney, Shakur, Tank, Ryan, Loma…

round 1:
Teo v Ryan
Tank v Loma
Cruz v Matias
Shakur v Haney

round 2:
Teo v Matias
Tank v Haney
Cruz v Ryan
Loma v Shakur

Round 3:
Teo v Tank
Shakur v Matias
Ryan v Loma
Cruz v Haney

only 3 group round top 4 move on….his majesty can front 70-100 million to give out to each fighter to show up 2 mil per fight+whatever the promotion is paying plus ppv.. And Ahmet Abdullah get a cut of everything or fuk it just do it for the LOVE of boxing.

 

Yes, I can imagine taking over a division(s) with lots of money. Keeping it focused and limited would keep the number of boxers and promoters limited and make it feasible. Even with Saudi money, you'll have promoters keeping their fighter out of the tournament (such as Bute), but maybe not.

But thinking you can take over the entire sport? Unlikely. PBC is the closest thing we've seen to that and that's not close.

 

It’s finally getting there.

Golden Boy and Top Rank agree partnership with Riyadh Season | Boxing News

 

agreeing to work with him isnt exactly the same as his excellency buying out all promotional outfits.

 

I personally think Vinnie and Louie should be organising the fights in association with Mr Carbo but that's just my opinion maaaan.

 

@RealRickGlaser1

 

He must love boxing!!

 

So, that's it. Boxing will officially be gone from US cable.

Not a huge deal. It's not like ESPN moved the boxing needle at all. Their boxing production was always dog shit compared to HBO and Showtime.

 

Pretty wild that someone can come in with a couple billion at their disposal and just change everything.

Makes me wonder why noone ever took this opportunity before. Maybe because it's a net loss so it only makes sense given the situation ("sports washing")

 

Wow! Arum trashed DAZN before. Hilarious. Cool. Now i can jettison ESPN plus

 

Saudi arabia looking to become tourist/entertainment center as part of their diversification away from oil. So my guess is this is not some act of charity but rather part of a strategic enterprise.

 

I'm keeping ESPN plus, only because I never had it for boxing in the first place. I have it because they cover several soccer leagues (LaLiga, Bundesliga) that I follow. But yeah, if you just had it for boxing, you can definitely dump it in July.

 

There is certainly that angle but imagine if you had billions of dollars from doing basically nothing. I can imagine myself as a boxing fan doing something similar.