Eddie Hearn reveals the key disagreement he has with Dana White amid Turki Alalshikh boxing announcement
03/07/2025 12:46 PM
TKO are surely going to ruffle some feathers in the boxing world following the recent announcement of a new super power entering the sport.
Between the relentless schedule of the UFC and the recent deals Dana White has done regarding Power Slap, there was already no rest for one of the most important men in combat sports but his plate just got a lot fuller.
White and Turki Alalshikh recently announced their plans for a new TKO boxing league with big plans to instantly make their mark on the sport.
The new league has already generated interest from the biggest star in boxing, Canelo Alvarez, who said he would be open to working with TKO and White.
It also means that in this new venture, the UFC president will be going up against, and working alongside to some extent, an admirer of his in Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn.
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Eddie Hearn disagrees with Turki Alalshikh and Dana White’s assessment of boxing
When Dana White first started flirting with the idea of getting seriously invested in boxing, the sport badly needed a coat of fresh paint.
Boxing politics were getting in the way of putting on the biggest and best fights which left it being stuck in a constant cycle of underwhelming the fans.
However, in recent years, largely due to Turki Alalshikh’s involvement, this has not been the case and boxing has been steadily building momentum and interest once again.
Eddie Hearn spoke about this during a recent interview with The Stomping Ground where he reacted to the news of TKO’s involvement.
Hearn said whilst he welcomes them into the sport, he believes that this move proves what a strong position boxing is in right now, rather than the idea that it needs “fixing” to some degree.
“The one thing that I disagree with his Excellency and Dana White, boxing’s not broken. Boxing’s in the best place it’s ever been and boxing’s been hot for a long, long time. Riyadh Season, his Excellency, he’s injected that new lease of life and of course, a huge amount of money as well to make these big fights happen so I don’t think anyone’s going to fix boxing but can we improve it? Can we put better structures together? Can we come up with leagues that are gonna work and find one champion and all this kind of stuff? Yeah, I think we should always look to evolve.”
Eddie Hearn is also unsure about Dana White’s approach to having one belt and one champion
The other sticking point for Eddie Hearn after reading through the press release of the announcement was one of the key points that Dana White wants to address in boxing.
For a long time, there has been talk of boxing having too many belts and governing bodies which makes the entire sport muddy.
Though White’s plan seems to be to completely disrupt this by having one title for the single champion of each division, disregarding the need for the various other titles and governing bodies, Hearn is sceptical because he believes that the legacy of these belts still means something to the fighters.
“I don’t agree necessarily with the, what is it Dana said, ‘We don’t need three letters before a belt’. You have to remember those governing bodies and those belts carry a huge amount of history and legacy and fighters want to fight for those belts.
“Now you’ve got the Ring belt, which is in my opinion, and I’ve said before, even before his Excellency took it over, the Ring Magazine champion is kind of the like the established number one in the division but this whole thing about one champion, this is not a new thing but trust me when I say those belts have a big value to the fighters and their heroes, previous greats have held those belts as well.”
