Welcome to another Thursday here at FightHype, AKA La Résistance, one of the few holdouts in a dystopian boxing world where everyone’s grasping at Saudi Turki bucks and willing to give away everything to get them. Well, all I’m willing to give away is about a quart of gooey, salty truth from the depths of my bulging Sack, right in the eye of boxing’s bad guys. So, yeah…This week, we have questions/comments regarding Turki/The Saudis/TKO/Dana White and the Tank-Roach (non) decision.
Can Turki/Saudi/TKO League/Promotion Work?
Hey Paul, I respect your work and love your writing. I know we are early, what is your opinion of the concept of a boxing league like we are hearing with Dana White, Turki Alalshikh and TKO promotion? Aside from the Saudi shadow, can a boxing promotional league work in your opinion? I know we have seen it successfully in other combat sports like Team Combat League, UFC, BKFC, etc. but this seems tougher to put together high level boxers who are signed already to promoters, managers, consultants and advisers. Thanks for all you do.
– Geoff
Hay Geoff.
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for reading.
From what I’ve been reading and hearing, Dana and co. are trying to walk back the “league” idea and emphasize that they’re just talking about being a promotional company. I can’t blame them because, right now, if they were to put together an actual league that runs like a league, it would make them look like a small-time operation.
Given network and promotional entanglements, there would be a lot of top talent left out and, out of necessity, they’d have to operate with second and third-tier talent, with just a few first-tier guys thrown in.
In general, it’s going to be tough to do a lot of what Turki/Dana/TKO say they want to do, even with Saudi money behind them. The idea of going back to the original nine weight classes and ditching the sanctioning bodies is pie in the sky stuff, especially as promoters and the alphabets start to realize that they’re being pushed out the door for good. What we’ll end up having is two divided factions with both sides playing under different rules. It’ll be a bigger mess than it is now.
I think they’ll realize that soon enough and, rather than try to reinvent the wheel, they’ll just content themselves with being a standard promotional company.
The Real Takeover
Magno.
Mad respect to you, you’ve been the only boxing writer out there telling the truth and breaking down where all this Turki takeover is going. You’ve been right from day one. Turki and the royal family have come for the sport and they’re using Dana White to do the dirty work for the next part, probably where they run out of business all those promoters and organizations who helped them, just like you said in this week’s Notes from the Boxing Underground.
My question to you is what will these people do to fight back or will they just roll over and go away? What’s next in this drama?
– K.L Lee
Hey K.L.
I think the instinct with these guys will be to diplomatically play along, hoping to ingratiate themselves with this new world boxing order. Let’s be honest here. These people– the promoters, sanctioning bodies– are grifters and all they know how to do is hustle for money.
Then, when they realize that Turki/The Saudis/TKO/Dana are just looking to own everything for themselves, they’ll finally put up a fight. But will it be too late? That’s the question. The promoters have let Turki work directly with their fighters and even matchmake for them. It’s like allowing a virus into your computer system, letting it expand and corrupt programs for months, and then trying to sit down and use that computer again.
There are many reasons the Saudi involvement in boxing is a negative (as I’ve been pointing out for a long, long time), but the establishment boxing people have also been a negative for the sport. However, if I have to choose between the two, I’ll side with the establishment, especially if the Saudi push to take over makes them realize that they actually have to run the sport like something they care about cultivating.
Tank-Roach Stays a Draw
Hey Paul.
Not surprisingly, the New York commission decided to not overturn the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach decision. Just what we needed, another black eye for boxing. I wasn’t holding out hope that the commission would do the right thing, I just hate that I was right (again) about this sport being rotten and corrupt. What do you think about his all this came down?
– Anthony
Hey Anthony.
There’s no doubt about it. Lamont Roach should’ve won that night. He should be the WBA lightweight champ right now. It’s always a travesty when the wrong decision is handed out and the rightful winner has to go away with a loss (or a draw in this case). But once that draw was announced, the die was cast. It was never going to be overturned, at least not for what can be labeled as an official’s judgment call.
And while I always want justice served, I’m not enraged about the NYSAC’s lack of action. The shitty call and the unfair draw will have to stand, in the name of the greater good. Now, hear me out. Can you imagine the precedent it would set if commissions could go back and “fix” outcomes of fights after the fact, at the request of a fighter/manager/promoter? It would be a mess. Taking a win from a PEDs cheat is easy and clear. Messing with judgment calls from the referee or judges is a real slippery slope.
It sucks for Roach, but I think the closest he gets to justice for that debacle of an outcome is a big-money rematch and a second chance to prove himself.
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