UFC president Dana White, who announced his intention to expand his promotional interests into boxing last year, looks to have solidified his intentions on that front.
White announced at a press conference on Thursday that there would be “big announcements” coming soon.
“There’s going to be some big announcements coming up soon,” White said. “And let me tell you, if you know anything about me and you go back and look at everything I’ve ever said, I never say anything I don’t do… We’ve been throwing the whole boxing thing around for a long time, but you’ve never heard me say, ‘I’m in.’ I’m in.”
White has dabbled in boxing before, co-promoting Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor in 2017 due to McGregor’s contractual status with the UFC at the time.
In the days leading up to Thursday’s press conference, White had hinted at his interest in boxing. He said in an Instagram post earlier this week that he would be in Ireland for the Callum Walsh-Przemek Runowski fight on Friday.
“I’m jumping on a plane and flying to Dublin, Ireland, for the boxing match this weekend,” he said.
White’s first target looks to be in sight: unified heavyweight world titleholder Anthony Joshua.
White is making a bid to sign Joshua to a multi-fight deal that could be worth upward of $500 million, according to a report Wednesday in the UK’s Daily Telegraph.
White plans to attend Joshua’s world title unification fight with New Zealand’s Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) on March 31 at Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. While there, according to the report, he plans to meet with Joshua and his team.
However, Joshua remains under contract to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn. Speaking on a conference call with boxing reporters to discuss the showdown with Parker, ESPN asked both of them about the Daily Telegraph report.
Joshua made it clear that, though he was open to doing business with UFC, he had no intention of leaving Hearn, who has promoted every one of his fights.
“Listen, I’m riding with Eddie. I’ve been riding with Eddie. He got me from the get-go,” Joshua said. “I’m not into the UFC, so I don’t know what their plans are. … I’m interested because we can all work together. Remember, mine and Eddie’s relationship is a really good working relationship. And I’m sure Eddie has an interest in working with Dana White. If it’s good business, it makes sense.
“We’ll listen and 100 percent, if it makes sense we’re all ears, man. I’m happy that Dana is coming into the game. Hopefully, he can add some excitement and we can progress forward and make some good money and make some good fights.”
Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs), 28, of England, is arguably boxing’s biggest global star and would be an obvious target for anyone getting involved in the promotional end of the sport. White, with the UFC’s deep pockets, has said he is in the process of applying for a boxing promoter’s license in Nevada.
Joshua has set pay-per-view records in the United Kingdom and drawn massive crowds. By the time his fight with Parker is in the books he will have drawn nearly 250,000 fans to stadiums for his previous three fights – a British-record boxing crowd of 90,000 to Wembley Stadium in London for his epic 11th-round knockout of former longtime world champion Wladimir Klitschko in the fight of the year last April; a sell-out crowd of 78,000 to Principality Stadium for his 10th-round knockout of Carlos Takam in October; and another 78,000 sellout is expected for the fight with Parker next week.
Joshua’s contract with Hearn has about a year to go on it and Hearn said he is open to doing business with White.
“If Dana White wants to speak to us, obviously Anthony is with us, we’re willing to talk to anybody,” Hearn said on Wednesday night’s media call. “We do great business with everyone – Bernd Boente, Duco Events. I work with Top Rank, Golden Boy, Al Haymon. We work with anyone if the business is right.”
