Dana White believes that he can do boxing better. In an interview with Yahoo! Sports, White believes he has ideas that could make boxing better.
“You need to get a real TV deal,” said Dana White to Yahoo! Sports Kevin Iole in a shot made against Bob Arum’s Top Rank deal with ESPN. White’s foray into boxing is not to take over the landscape of promotion but the belief that he can do it better than those who are presently promoting the sport.
White spoke with Iole at length on a variety of subjects including his boxing promoting aspirations.
One of the more notable quotes he had was stating his displeasure with working with Showtime during the Mayweather-McGregor fight. This is not the first time White has had problems with Showtime as he butted heads with the network when Zuffa took over Strikeforce. In the Iole interview, White disputes Showtime’s press release touting that The Money Fight drew 4.3 million domestic buys. White contends the fight did 6.7 million buys and that it would have done more if there were not technical glitches. It may have seemed that White took a shot at Showtime’s streaming service but that may have been just an inference based on tone as there were other online options. There have been lawsuits filed as a result of the tech failure.
Payout Perspective:
It comes as no surprise that White does not like Showtime and maybe the feeling is mutual. One of the reasons why The Money Fight was such a surprise to me when it was made so quickly was White’s disdain for the network. As for the issue of boxing promotion, the issue of fighter pay and whether White can secure a TV deal as he suggested in the interview are two big questions when White begins to promote boxing. White is not going in this blind as he stated he has meetings with those in the boxing business and previously stated that he had a meeting with Mayweather. He also is friendly with Al Haymon which may mean the two work together down the line.
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