Endeavor in talks to acquire Premier Boxing Champions

[Ruthless-RKO]

This could be the major move that springs Zuffa Boxing forward.

We are almost two years removed from UFC president Dana White announcing his intentions to get into the boxing business. So far nothing has really happened, but that could soon change in a major way.

The Athletic’s Mike Coppinger revealed in a Q&A that there is very much truth to the rumors that Endeavor, the UFC’s parent company, are looking to buy Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions.

“Rumors are true,” Coppinger wrote. “Al [Haymon] held several meetings with Ari Emanuel about a potential deal where Al would still be majorly involved the same way Dana [White] is with UFC following that deal with Endeavor. There’s a ton more to write about this; something I’ll cover in the coming weeks with a full-length story on the site.”

This might be that big boxing move White hinted that he would make “after the summer.”

PBC launched in 2015, with a roster of more than 200 boxers and backed by (the now mostly squandered) hundreds of millions of dollars in investment money to help fund and advertise themselves as a game-changer for the sport of boxing. In search of a television deal, they signed a series of time-buy deals with ESPN, CBS, FOX, NBC, and others. This largely failed in the short-term; poor ratings, inactive fighters, questionable matchmaking, and planned event dates falling through (among other things) led to genuine concern that they would falter by the end of 2016. In the long-term, they have indeed managed multi-year agreements with FOX and Showtime, and they essentially now own boxing’s pay-per-view market.

The PBC stable notably boasts WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight king Andy Ruiz, IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr, WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman, boxing legend Manny Pacquiao, WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz, and WBA super-featherweight champion Gervonta Davis. Technically speaking, none of these fighters is contractually tied to FOX and/or Showtime (as evidenced by Ruiz fighting Joshua on DAZN), and several of them do not have promotional contracts. What is pretty evident is that the top names (and several of the lesser names or faded stars) get handsomely paid whether they’re on pay-per-view or not.

Of course, we don’t know how big the ramifications could be. PBC is the brand/promotion but they’re not officially listed as a promoter. Haymon launched PBC and is an “adviser” and “manager,” but he can’t be a promoter unless he wants to violate the Ali Act (something Golden Boy alleged he’s already done in their lawsuit against him). White’s own grand visions for Zuffa Boxing include not working with sanctioning bodies, which is completely impractical within the confines of the regulations in the sport.

There are many questions that we will presumably know the answer to very shortly, but if this does go through, it is a huge moment for combat sports that one of the major players in boxing is going to be owned by the same company that owns the premier MMA organization.

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2019/6/13/1 ... s-mma-news

[ironbeard]

Very interesting.

[Enlightened-One]

I’m not sure if the PBC’s acquisition will mean anything, other than less freedom for fighters competing on rival networks.

Also, the author of the article states that GBP filed a lawsuit claiming that Haymon is a promoter, but didn’t disclose its outcome nor those of other frivolous lawsuits that were quickly dismissed in double-quick time.

And there’s an obvious reason for this, the journalist has some bias and is implying something no one has ever been able to prove.

This sort of dishonesty leads me to believe the general claims being made about the acquisition might be untrue.

The PBC is essentially a TV show where its combatants are promotional free agents, with many fighters being self-managed.

It doesn’t really possess any significant value, other than the deals with Fox and Showtime, since the talent is legally able to compete for any network or promotional banner.

The PBC isn’t the UFC. Boxers aren’t contractually obliged to Haymon’s brand unlike MMA fighter are tied with the UFC.

For the example:

Khan-Canelo, Khan-Crawford, Ruiz Jr.-Joshua, Alvarez-Kovalev, Breazeale-Joshua, Washington-Joshua etc.

[KiwiRider]

The article was right about the matchmaking. PBC shows have been quite dissapointing. Not as bad as some of the GBP ones, but neither do boxing any favours when you can immediately tell who the winner is going to be as soon as you see the stats.
I blame this stupid protecting the 0 fad. Boxing fans wanna see close competitive fights.

[jamamb]

i honestly dont think pbc matchmakuing has been nearly bad as ppl say, there have been many solid fights out of it

its just that a fight like garcia vs salka was so memorably awful that its hard for ppl to shake

[KiwiRider]

i honestly dont think pbc matchmakuing has been nearly bad as ppl say, there have been many solid fights out of it

its just that a fight like garcia vs salka was so memorably awful that its hard for ppl to shake

It's not so much the main events as more the whole card.
You have to put on a show, otherwise why bother?

[Onetimeonly]

Very interesting.

I posted on this ages ago. Not interesting then ?

[ironbeard]

I posted on this ages ago. Not interesting then ?

Didn’t notice your post ages ago, and it still hasn’t happened.

While it is interesting, it is not something that I have formed an opinion about, yet.

[Onetimeonly]

Didn’t notice your post ages ago, and it still hasn’t happened.

While it is interesting, it is not something that I have formed an opinion about, yet.

I was just fornicating with you. I called it a rumor. Pretty much the guys al bilked out of a half billion are trying to force the sale because they're getting nothing back.

[ironbeard]

I was just effing with you. I called it a rumor. Pretty much the guys al bilked out of a half billion are trying to force the sale because they're getting nothing back.

Very familiar story.

[Enlightened-One]

The article was right about the matchmaking. PBC shows have been quite dissapointing.

To be fair, if you take a look at the PBC's stable of welterweights, Al Haymon's matchmakers have orchestrated lots of decent bouts. For instance:

• Adrien Broner fought: Paulie Malignaggi, Marcos Maidana, Shawn Porter, Mikey Garcia, Jessie Vargas and Manny Pacquiao
• Andre Berto fought: Luis Collazo, Robert Guerrero, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Josesito Lopez, Victor Ortiz, Shawn Porter and Devon Alexander
• Luis Collazo fought: Andre Berto, Amir Khan, Victor Ortiz, Keith Thurman and Samuel Vargas
• Danny Garcia fought: Robert Guerrero, Amir Khan, Paulie Malignaggi, Lamont Peterson, Keith Thurman, Brandon Rios, Shawn Porter and is expected to face Mikey Garcia next
• Robert Guerrero fought: Andre Berto, Danny Garcia, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Keith Thurman, Omar Figueroa Jr.
• Amir Khan fought: Luis Collazo, Danny Garcia, Paulie Malignaggi, Marcos Maidana, Victor Ortiz, Lamont Peterson and Samuel Vargas, coupled with the fact that he was able to face pound-for-pound stars from other stables, such as Canelo and Terence Crawford
• Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought: Andre Berto, Robert Guerrero, Marcos Maidana and Victor Ortiz.
• Josesito Lopez fought: Andre Berto, Marcos Maidana, Victor Ortiz and Keith Thurman
• Paulie Malignaggi fought: Adrien Broner, Danny Garcia, Amir Khan and Shawn Porter.
• Marcos Maidana fought: Adrien Broner, Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Josesito Lopez and Victor Ortiz.
• Victor Ortiz fought: Andre Berto, Luis Collazo, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Josesito Lopez, Marcos Maidana, Lamont Peterson and Devon Alexander
• Lamont Peterson fought: Danny Garcia, Amir Khan, Victor Ortiz and Errol Spence Jr
• Shawn Porter fought: Adrien Broner, Andre Berto, Keith Thurman, Devon Alexander, Paulie Malignaggi, Danny Garcia and will be facing Errol Spence Jr. next
• Keith Thurman fought: Luis Collazo, Robert Guerrero, Shawn Porter, Danny Garcia, Josesito Lopez and will be facing Manny Pacquiao next
• Errol Spence Jr. fought: Lamont Peterson, Mikey Garcia and will be facing Shawn Porter next
• Manny Pacquiao fought: Adrien Broner and will be facing Keith Thurman next
• Mikey Garcia fought: Errol Spence Jr. and is rumoured to be facing Danny Garcia next

Last year, I performed some research and discovered that Al Haymon was affiliated with almost 200 fighters, with at least fifty of them rated in the top ten of their respective weight divisions by ESPN and/or The RING, as well as 16 world champions possessing titles from the WBA/WBC/IBF/WBO. I sincerely doubt the situation has changed much since then.

People forget the amount of decent bouts involving PBC fighters we've seen orchestrated... and then compare the sheer volume to the calibre of fights staged by Top Rank, GBP and Matchroom.

I honestly think you'll be surprised.