Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Welcome to another chapter of Dana White saying negative things about boxing.
Not that it’s of great importance at the moment, but it sounds like Dana White may be having some second thoughts about getting into the boxing business.
As part of his interview with Yahoo’s Kevin Iole, the UFC president was asked about the “economics of the sport” and whether boxing can survive going forward post-coronavirus pandemic. Unsurprisingly, he was on the pessimistic side of the aisle with regards to boxing’s long-term health.
“I hate speaking negatively about the sport of boxing, other than the fact that it’s a mess,” White said. “We all know it’s a mess and it needs to be fixed, if it can be fixed.”
We’ve been waiting for White’s grand Zuffa Boxing announcement, which has been teased umpteen times but hasn’t actually materialized.
“I told you guys that I would have a press conference last October and announce all these things, but as I dove into this thing and started to look into the sport of boxing, the economics of boxing — that sport’s a mess,” White said. “It’s a mess and it’s in big trouble. I don’t know if it can be fixed.”
Boxing is on its way to extinction, Act 4218.
I don’t think it’s controversial to say that there are a lot of problems with the sport of boxing, but White never got into any specifics, and he wasn’t pressed on that either. He’s already dropped hints that he wants to fix the pay system, so maybe that’s what he wants to say. After all, the revenue split between promoter and boxer is heavily in favor of the top boxers, unlike the UFC.
So if Zuffa Boxing never gets off the ground, look at this interview as the sign.