BoxRec

An ambitious and expensive Saudi plan that would reshape the economics, structure and future of boxing is in the final stages of approval, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plan.

Saudi Arabia’s giant sovereign wealth vehicle, the Public Investment Fund, would finance the project. The fund is holding final negotiations about dispersing the initial investment — said to be as much as $2 billion — that the plan would require, according to the two people involved in the planning. Both people declined to be identified because the project does not have final approval.

The Public Investment Fund, known as the P.I.F., declined to comment.

Under the Saudi proposal, about 200 of the top men’s boxers in the world would be signed and then divided into 12 weight classes in what would amount to a global boxing league.

Each class would include about 15 fighters each, allowing the best talents to regularly face off. The move would effectively create a single boxing entity that would replace the sometimes chaotic and frustrating system of dueling promoters and warring sanctioning bodies. The new entity would have the resources, and the fighters, to stage high-profile cards around the globe.

And unlike many of the sports Saudi Arabia has previously attempted to disrupt, professional boxing may be ripe for reimagining. The sport has lost its luster and some of its allure in recent decades and is currently run by a tangled web of rival promoters and disparate sanctioning bodies that arrange their own fights and award their own titles. That leaves fans to sift through a confusing system that frequently stymies meetings between the best boxers and one that boasts multiple “champions” in the same weight classes.

Ezzard wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 11:55 Hmmmm... Love the idea. But it only really works if they capture every talent in the divisions. Only takes one Roid Jones to take a contract to fight postmen and binmen outside of this idea and then it just becomes another splinter org.

Ezzard wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 11:55 Hmmmm... Love the idea. But it only really works if they capture every talent in the divisions. Only takes one Roid Jones to take a contract to fight postmen and binmen outside of this idea and then it just becomes another splinter org.

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 12:55 they already got a usa card and look to be making one for uk later this year

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 12:55 they already got a usa card and look to be making one for uk later this year

SeanBrennan wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 17:34

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 12:55 they already got a usa card and look to be making one for uk later this year

saw this re the UK card, fair play if they do it.

MightyWarrior wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 12:36

Ezzard wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 11:55 Hmmmm... Love the idea. But it only really works if they capture every talent in the divisions. Only takes one Roid Jones to take a contract to fight postmen and binmen outside of this idea and then it just becomes another splinter org.

they could get round this problem by publicly executing any fighter that decided to do this.

gilgamesh wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 12:50

Ezzard wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 11:55 Hmmmm... Love the idea. But it only really works if they capture every talent in the divisions. Only takes one Roid Jones to take a contract to fight postmen and binmen outside of this idea and then it just becomes another splinter org.

I suspect they'll have to be ok with the idea of promoting some big fights outside of Saudi Arabia. I know Canelo has turned down offers from them, and I wouldn't doubt that in some of these guys' cases. Someone that already has 10's of Millions in the bank, you're talking to a guy that you couldn't pay enough to go to Saudi Arabia.

Ezzard wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 11:55 Hmmmm... Love the idea. But it only really works if they capture every talent in the divisions. Only takes one Roid Jones to take a contract to fight postmen and binmen outside of this idea and then it just becomes another splinter org.

TBA wrote: ↑14 Jun 2024, 11:14

Ezzard wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 11:55 Hmmmm... Love the idea. But it only really works if they capture every talent in the divisions. Only takes one Roid Jones to take a contract to fight postmen and binmen outside of this idea and then it just becomes another splinter org.

It only really matters about controlling the Heavyweight division. That's where the casual interest and global appeal is.

For every other division they can just continue to have all the super fights happening under them.

KiwiRider wrote: ↑14 Jun 2024, 15:34 Yet again they completely skip over the grass roots.
Boxing is nothing without the small gyms guys like Joshua and Crawford and everyone else started in.
You can't keep throwing money at just the pointy end of a sport and expect it to flourish.
It's the most short sighted plan imaginable.

MightyWarrior wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 12:36

Ezzard wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 11:55 Hmmmm... Love the idea. But it only really works if they capture every talent in the divisions. Only takes one Roid Jones to take a contract to fight postmen and binmen outside of this idea and then it just becomes another splinter org.

they could get round this problem by publicly executing any fighter that decided to do this.

1388007 wrote: ↑03 Dec 2024, 03:18

dookus wrote: ↑13 Jun 2024, 09:33 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/12/world/middleeast/sa sprunki

An ambitious and expensive Saudi plan that would reshape the economics, structure and future of boxing is in the final stages of approval, according to two people with direct knowledge of the plan.

Saudi Arabia’s giant sovereign wealth vehicle, the Public Investment Fund, would finance the project. The fund is holding final negotiations about dispersing the initial investment — said to be as much as $2 billion — that the plan would require, according to the two people involved in the planning. Both people declined to be identified because the project does not have final approval.

The Public Investment Fund, known as the P.I.F., declined to comment.

Under the Saudi proposal, about 200 of the top men’s boxers in the world would be signed and then divided into 12 weight classes in what would amount to a global boxing league.

Each class would include about 15 fighters each, allowing the best talents to regularly face off. The move would effectively create a single boxing entity that would replace the sometimes chaotic and frustrating system of dueling promoters and warring sanctioning bodies. The new entity would have the resources, and the fighters, to stage high-profile cards around the globe.

And unlike many of the sports Saudi Arabia has previously attempted to disrupt, professional boxing may be ripe for reimagining. The sport has lost its luster and some of its allure in recent decades and is currently run by a tangled web of rival promoters and disparate sanctioning bodies that arrange their own fights and award their own titles. That leaves fans to sift through a confusing system that frequently stymies meetings between the best boxers and one that boasts multiple “champions” in the same weight classes.

Who'da seen it coming eh

Unlike established sports like soccer or tennis, where organizations like FIFA and the ATP wield centralized control, boxing is a free-for-all. This chaos creates an opportunity for a well-funded entity to step in and take over. By signing the top 200 fighters and organizing them into a global league, Saudi Arabia could create a system where fans no longer have to navigate the maze of rival promoters and belts.