Dana White: ‘I’m making all my boxing moves after this summer’

For those who are absolutely champing at the bit to find out when Zuffa Boxing will get off the ground, Dana White has the answer.

Dana White has been talking about getting into the boxing business for almost two years now, and so far the only notable things we’ve seen are regional-level boxing promotions sign deals to be shown on UFC Fight Pass.

So what’s the UFC president’s latest update? He says he’ll be making moves soon.

In an interview with CNN, White spoke for the umpteenth time about the ills of boxing, namely sharing the frustrations the general fight-fan public has with the heavyweight division trio of Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, and Anthony Joshua not fighting each other this year.

“What I don’t like what [boxing] is doing if how they’re not fighting the best guys out there right now,” White said. “They have [Deontay] Wilder and [Tyson] Fury who just fought to a draw in an incredible fight that people loved. The rematch isn’t happening with those two, and neither one of those two are going to fight [Anthony] Joshua.

“These guys could do a round robin fight, fight each other. You know, both guys could fight Joshua and they’d kill it. They’d make so much money and they would bring so much energy and life back to boxing. But these guys just keep shooting themselves in the foot.”

“I am making all my boxing moves after this summer,” White said. When this summer is over, you’ll be hearing a lot about what I’m doing in the sport of boxing.”

White once again expressed interest in promoting Anthony Joshua, who was reportedly offered a massive contract to sign with Zuffa Boxing, but Dana White denied it.

“I would like that,” White said. “Right now, Anthony Joshua should be a huge star in the United States too. But he’s not.”

“[Fighting in New York on June 1st] isn’t necessarily going to turn you into a big star. Hopefully it does.”

Now keep in mind that White has already said he won’t work with sanctioning bodies, and he has repeatedly trashed promoters such as Bob Arum, Oscar De La Hoya, and Eddie Hearn, who are three of the four major promoters in boxing right now. He also said he’d never work with Showtime again, and those guys are one-half of Premier Boxing Champions.

There is also an insane amount of money being spent on boxing, so it’s a highly competitive market that is resulting in many top boxers — not necessarily major draws — getting career-high paydays. Whatever White supposedly has planned up his sleeve, he’s hardly the only game in town and he’ll have to spend a lot of money to lure some notable names to his side.