Dana White doesn’t miss an opportunity to take a shot at boxing.
The UFC president, who had planned to get into boxing, was speaking at his latest news conference when he was asked about issues plaguing the sweet science. He let loose.
White targeted promoters, with whom he has feuded publicly.
“I could give you 1,000 reasons why boxing is in trouble,” he said, “I’ve been saying it for 20 years. And now we’re getting to the point where it’s really bad, it’s in big trouble.
“The number one reason is because these promoters that have been doing this for 30, 40 years never invested money back into the [sport]. Every boxing match that goes on is a ‘going out of business’ sale.”
“‘Let’s get as much money as we can from these people and get the f— out of town’ – that’s a boxing match. And that’s just not how you run a business, it’s not how you build the sport and it’s not how you create longevity in your sport.
“If you look at things from the headquarters, to the PI, to the Apex, to what we’re doing in China and all these other places around the world. Those are all investments in the sport.”
One issue with which boxing is dealing is the absence of its biggest star, Canelo Alvarez, who has filed a lawsuit against promoter Oscar De La Hoya, his company (Golden Boy Promotions) and the streaming service DAZN seeking damages and his release.
A key element of the broken relationships is a disagreement over what constitutes a “premium” opponent for Alvarez. DAZN reportedly listed Gennadiy Golovkin, which makes sense, but also the 47-year-old De La Hoya and UFC fighters Jorge Masvidal and Khabib Nurmagomedo.
White jumped on that bit of news.
“That’s f—ing hilarious,” he said. “I don’t even know what to say to that, that’s hilarious. But are you shocked? That’s the state of boxing, it’s really where those guys are at.
“I don’t even know what to say to that.”
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