Report: Saudis looking to unify boxing under one league
Several boxing gloves on the wall. Photo Credit: John Heider/hometownlife.com via Imagn Content Services, LLC.
The Saudi Arabian government has made a major push into the world of sports in recent years, and they reportedly are looking to make some significant changes to the sport of boxing.
According to a report published by Reuters on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is in talks with several different boxing organizations to unify the sport under one league.
Historically, boxing has been run by various promoters who represent numerous fighters. In recent years, promoters have typically landed TV deals with networks and tended to match up their own clients against each other. This approach has limited marquee matchups between fighters represented by rival promoters. Additionally, there are numerous sanctioning bodies, such as the WBC, WBO and WBA, which all have different rules for determining championship belts.
If one all-encompassing league were able to form and bring together fighters for matchups regardless of their promoter, that would result in a much more interesting and healthy sport. Simply put, boxing does not have anything close to what the UFC is — a global MMA promotion that has many of the top mixed martial artists in the world under contract.
The report says the Saudi government would want to bring together many of the top stakeholders in boxing, such as the top promoters, and then take a minority ownership stake in said venture.
The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund has already disrupted and/or been active in golf, soccer and Formula 1. They are hoping to do something similar with boxing.
