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Zuffa Boxing Throws It’s Hat In the Boxing Ring

By Joshua “City” Brewer

The old adage goes if you can’t beat them, join them. This is essentially what Dana White is entailed to do with the brewing Zuffa Boxing brand. It’s been reported that four division boxing world champion Mikey Garcia, 38-0, 30 KO’s, is currently in negotiations to ink a deal with Zuffa Boxing. Garcia vacated the IBF super lightweight championship that he picked up in a win against Sergey Lipinets several weeks back. Garcia has been a bit of a nomad over the past several years. He’s essentially been operating on his own terms for the most part. Garcia has opted to be his own promoter. To some degree it has kind of worked for him, but that depends on who you ask.

Garcia has been on a fairly impressive streak since returning from a long layoff in 2016. This past year Golden Boy Promotions made a three fight offer to Garcia that would have saw him fight Miguel Cotto in what would have surely been his most lucrative payday to date. Garcia turned the deal down because he didn’t want to commit to the two additional fights. Maybe he felt he’d have a better chance by taking a ‘chance’ on himself. He’s in the prime of his career and there are a ton of fights to be made from 135 -147 pounds, which he’s indicated isn’t off the table.

Enter Zuffa Boxing. Dana White has been a sort of on again, off again boxing guy. That aside, he loves money even more. There has been constant switching and baiting over the years as there have been these charged up insinuations regarding whether MMA would be the final blow that brought down boxing. Negative! If you can’t beat them, join them. White has been discussing the potential of establishing a boxing promotion since the ‘mega’ fight between Floyd Mayweather, JR., and Conor McGregor in 2017. This fight generated so much interest, good or bad, that White has essentially changed his tune on previous insinuations that boxing was a dying sport.

It was reported last year that Zuffa Boxing was trying to ink a $500M+ deal with British heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, the extent of the negotiations I do not know. Fast forward to now and they’re looking to capitalize on a deal with one of boxing’s brightest stars and top level talents in Garcia. Garcia has the skills, charisma, and style to become a boxing superstar. He came from humble beginnings and pays homage to his roots. As we enter this rejuvenated phase of boxing the sky’s the limit. Whether Zuffa Boxing will be able to take him to another level is still up in the air.

As a matter of fact, whether Zuffa Boxing will be able to crossover and have success is a major concern as well. The first order of business is to have stars that can draw. The Mayweather, JR. Vs McGregor format worked out because it was the two most popular fighters, loved or hated, in both sports. There was a major promotional tour and a lot of fan interest generated, primarily casual fans who never really watched boxing. It was more of an anomaly than the norm. White will have his hands full in getting things established in a sport that hasn’t been forgiving to some of its own superstars in the past who’d established promotions.

That said, time will tell. If he can sign the right fighters it may work. the verdict is most certainly still out. It’s been no mystery that UFC attendance is down. They thrive off of having stars and a lot of the old guard has moved on. Their reliance is on McGregor for generating major numbers. Even his future is up in the air. Many have risen, but many more have fallen in the sport of boxing. Zuffa Boxing will have to work with other promoters if they’re going to be able to sustain themselves in boxing. The UFC format will be hard to establish in boxing. White would have to take a Al Haymon approach and sign as many of the top fighters as possible in order to keep everything ‘in-house’ in a sense. It’s even been a major challenge for Haymon. There are only so many spots available and many network deals are already established for boxing. Pay-Per-View will only be successful with high-interest stars. Then again, i’m not telling anyone anything that they don’t already know. This is why they fight the fights. And to that, viva Cinco de Mayo!

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