While Zuffa Boxing has not been universally welcomed, there are plenty who advocate their arrival – including British promoter Ben Shalom, who heads up Boxxer.
The boxing landscape seems to move daily, with promoters looking for lucrative broadcast deals all over the world and many are with DAZN, with whom Boxxer recently announced a union – alongside the BBC.
“It’s madness,” said Shalom of the boxing business at present. “It’s absolutely madness right now. I think you’ve gone from it actually looking quite consolidated for a while to absolute chaos. But that’s boxing. And it’s why we love it. It’s interesting. There’s so much going on right now.
“It’s good that another broadcaster in the US has come in [in Paramount+ who are working with Dana White and Zuffa]. DAZN have been powering that market for a while, and they still think they’re the number-one place by some distance. So it’s good to have Zuffa in there. But I think as long as money’s coming to the sport and there’s opportunities for fighters, then it’s great. I think in a crowded marketplace, you have to do something different, and that’s what our focus is today.”
Shalom had two shows on the BBC – Frazer Clarke-Jeamie Tshikeva and Callum Simpson-Troy Williamson – before the third with which DAZN became one of their broadcast partners.
Shalom believes that the involvement of Turki Alalshikh, funding Zuffa Boxing, means that the entity cannot miss.
“What Turki’s done for boxing is phenomenal,” said Shalom. “So anything that he’s behind, I have confidence in. But I know he loves the sport of boxing, and he loves the history of boxing, and so that will be the balance. I think it’s another promoter.
“I think it’s good to have another promoter, particularly with Top Rank and PBC perhaps doing less shows than usual. We need that. I’m fully behind it. I’m fully behind Turki. I’m fully behind what they want to do. I’m fully behind doing things differently. Boxing will always be fragmented. Boxing will always be too big of a sport to control and I’m absolutely certain of that. I’ve lived and breathed this sport for nearly 10 years now. I know a thing about it. No one can tame this beast, but they can certainly create a sport within a sport. They can certainly create another alternative, and I think that’s really good for fans.
“I think that’s really good for boxing, and good for networks as well.”
The second Zuffa promotion concluded on Sunday, when Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic defeated former world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk at light heavyweight.
