UFC President Dana White has addressed the reports of his desire to sign heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua.
If you recall, back in March, it was reported that White made an offer to Joshu to get him to compete under the Zuffa Boxing banner.
White has made it well known in the past that he is a big fan of the heavyweight champ and would like to promote him as part of his planned venture into boxing.
Joshua (21-0, 21 KOs) last fought in a major unification bout with New Zealand’s Joseph Parker (24-1, 18 KOs) on March 31st in Cardiff, Wales.
Joshua ended up winning the fight. This marks the third consecutive stadium show for England’s Joshua, who is one of the highest-paid, biggest stars in the sport today.
At the time, it was reported that White planned to attend the fight and attempt to lure Joshua away from promoter Eddie Hearn with a ridiculously lucrative multi-fight offer.
Also, it was noted that the promotion would be willing to offer him a deal that could earn him $500 million (£353 million) and make him the richest British boxer of all time.
He could earn $50 million (£35 million) per fight if he switched to them. Joshua earned around $20 million US for the Parker fight. White addressed these reports about wanting to sign Joshua over the weekend.
“I never made him an offer ever,” White said at the UFC Liverpool post-fight press conference (transcript courtesy of Bloody Elbow). We were supposed to meet. We never met, we never talked money, we never did anything.”
“That isn’t even the kind of deal I was looking to structure,” White said. “Because when we talked, [Joshua] had told me that he was going to stay with Eddie Hearn. He was never going to get rid of Eddie Hearn, and that was never the plan. It was never like I was trying to move in and steal him from Hearn.
“The deal was that I felt we could add a lot of value to them in the United States,” He added. “So we could cut some kind of a deal in the US. He’s big in England, everyone knows who he is in England. And I have the machine to make him big in the United States. That was the plan.”
“Listen, I’ve worked with [Al Haymon], there’s a lot of guys I’d love to work with in the boxing business. Bob Arum isn’t one of them, but there’s a lot of other guys out there that I would.”
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