On the heels of announcing its media rights commitment to Paramount, Dana White made the media rounds to various outlets. In interviews, he noted that Zuffa Boxing would recognize The Ring belt alone as the championship for Zuffa Boxing.
The Ring, owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), will be working with Zuffa Boxing going forward. It was the financial backing behind the Canelo-Crawford match a couple weeks ago.
As we know, there’s an alphabet list of boxing organizations that have champions with only several divisions have a definitive lineal champion. But, this past summer, legislation was introduced which would alter the Ali Act which would allow a Zuffa Boxing to run parallel to the current boxing structure. Essentially, White’s Zuffa Boxing would act as regulatory body and promoter having its own belt (i.e., Ring Magazine belt). Hence, similar to the UFC, it would be autonomous from other belts and organizations. Thus, other boxers holding belts from the other sanctioning bodies would not be able to challenge for The Ring belt unless they agreed to the Zuffa Boxing structure which likely includes an exclusivity clause. Conversely, The Ring Champions in Zuffa Boxing would not (and could not) challenge for other belts outside of the bubble of the Universal Boxing Organization created by White.
Payout Perspective:
We knew this was coming but with the push for the new law to the Ali Act, this could change the scope of boxing. Whether it’s for the good or bad is depending on how you feel about boxing and Dana’s disruption to the sport. It would seem that recognizing just one belt and not being able to challenge the other champions would create the discussion of who is the best in the weight division. Of course, this is the same thing that has happened in the UFC for years.
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