For a man who didn’t actually do anything related to boxing this year, Joe Rogan’s inclusion on Sports Illustrated’s boxing power list was a bit surprising.
Joe Rogan is one of the most influential people in boxing in 2024, according to Sports Illustrated.
The once mighty publication shared a list of promoters and fighters for it’s end of year ‘Boxing Power List.’ At the top, unsurprisingly, is “H.E. Turki Alalshikh” (such restraint not actually calling him ‘His Excellency’), who continues to hold the boxing world in Saudi Arabia’s increasingly powerful orbit with Riyadh Season.
The next few names: Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, Dr. Rakan Hussain (the less flashy Saudi dealmaker), Eddie Hearn, Mike Tyson, Frank Warren, Oscar De La Hoya, Artur Beterbiev, DAZN’s Len Blavatnik, Bob Arum, and Canelo Alvarez.
The Most Powerful in Boxing??
Jake Paul and Amanda Serrano recognized by SI’s 2024 Boxings Power List for their accomplishments inside and outside the ring. Congratulations to both. pic.twitter.com/wJdULcpnMm
— Most Valuable Promotions (@MostVpromotions) December 19, 2024
It continues with Boxxer’s Ben Shalom, Jake Paul, Katie Taylor, WBC’s Mauricio Sulaiman, Naoya Inoue, TalkSport’s Simon Jordan, Joe Rogan, Daniel Dubois, Amanda Serrano, Fury manager Spencer Brown, and Mike Goodall — credited with popularizing Sweet Caroline at sporting events. Thanks, Mike.
Missing from the list, off the top of our heads: MVP’s Nakisa Bidarian, Misfits Boxings’ Mams Taylor, Francis Ngannou, BKFC’s David Feldman, Ryan Garcia, PBC’s Al Haymon, Stephen Espinoza, and Floyd Mayweather. You could even make the argument that Dana White, whose plans to come into boxing ‘guns blazing,’ deserves to be on the list as he could seriously disrupt the entire game in 2025.
But Joe Rogan?
Tyson Fury goes off on Joe Rogan: ‘Little bald-headed midget’#tysonfury #oleksandrusyk #boxing #UsykFury pic.twitter.com/HFlXSsUS2k
— Best MMA Moments (@XcellentMMA) December 21, 2024
Rogan is a fan of boxing and has a clear love for the sport, but putting him in a ‘Most Influential’ list seems a bit much? Or maybe we’re so used to ol’ Joe that we forget the power the No. 1 podcaster on earth holds with his Joe Rogan Experience.
After all, Dana White tapped Joe as a big part of Donald Trump’s 2024 U.S. presidential election win. And it was Rogan’s episode with Trump that Sports Illustrated points to as “one of the most listened-to podcasts of the year [which] provided significant insight into the boxing world, especially on Saudi Arabia’s increasing involvement in the sport, which is reshaping the landscape.”
For such an influential man in boxing, he didn’t have any actual boxers on the show in 2024. While he’s had a smattering of famous boxers on over the years, 2024 featured just one episode with a pro boxer as guest, and it was crossover boxer Francis Ngannou.
Maybe Joe will bring all that power he wields in the boxing community to bear in 2025.