Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO, Dana White, recently improved his ongoing business relationship with Turki Alalshikh by revealing that the two would partner up for a new boxing league in an attempt to provide fight fans with a fresh crop of fighters and events.
While Alalshikh — Saudi’s General Minister for Entertainment — and TKO Group Holdings Inc. will be financing the majority of the project, it’s White’s vision and experience as a combat promoter that will try to bring the league to the forefront, much like he did with UFC and more recently Power Slap.
During the recent “Fatal Fury” press conference, Oscar De La Hoya was asked about the new venture between White and Alalshikh. And while “The Golden Boy’s” relationship with White has turned sour over the years, he wasn’t overly-critical about the news.
He did, however, feel slighted in one area.
“Look, I did hear that he passed over the reigns of boxing to Dana White. Well, that comment to me, I felt a little offended because I have been in boxing all of my life. I have been promoting for 20 some odd years now,” de la Hoya told Fight Hub TV.
“So, what I am going to do is stay in my lane and do what I do for Golden Boy and DAZN, and give the fight fans that could possibly be made. It’s what we have been doing for years. Working with Turki and Riyadh Season and sprinkling in these championship big events, it’s an honor for me to do that.”
“The Golden Boy” has co-promoted with Alalshikh, and says despite his differences with White and now having to compete with him as a promoter in the same arena will not affect his business relationship with Turki.
“But I have my business that I have to take care of as well, and nobody is gong to touch me there. We are the best developers in the fight game and we take our fighters to championship levels to superstardom like we did with Canelo Alvarez and Ryan Garcia. I am going to stick in my lane and work with Alalshikh because it has been very positive,” he concluded.
Of course, once the new boxing promotion gets up and running it will be a matter of time before White may have to eventually start co-promoting with the other big brands if he wants to give fights fans what they want.
Co-promoting is not something White is very big on, but it’s a necessary evil in the world of boxing if big fights are to be made. And who knows, that could lead to the beginning of reparations between White and de la Hoya.
