The new boxing promotion, established by the UFC`s parent company, TKO Group Holdings, has revealed its ambitious blueprint for the future. The league is set to debut in September with a high-profile “superfight” event in Las Vegas, featuring a clash between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.
UFC CEO Dana White has been named as the promoter for this inaugural event. WWE president Nick Khan is also involved in the newly formed boxing organization, which benefits from significant financial backing from Saudi Arabia and Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the country`s General Entertainment Authority. While initial details were scarce upon the promotion`s announcement, more insights have emerged regarding the comprehensive schedule kicking off with the September 12th card.
During a recent financial call with investors, TKO President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Shapiro outlined the expected volume of events. “I would just tell you that we’re expecting with the boxing organization that we’re putting on an average of call it 12 fights a year, 12 cards a year for each of the next five years,” Shapiro stated. He added that the plan is still being finalized in collaboration with their partners in Saudi Arabia.
Beyond the standard 12 annual fight cards, the Saudi-supported league is also planning to host several standalone “superfight” events each year, similar in scale to the upcoming Canelo vs. Crawford bout in September.
Shapiro indicated the potential frequency of these major events, saying, “Irrespective of those, we will look to do anywhere from one to four sort of superfights per year, we’ll see how that plays out.” He confirmed the Canelo/Crawford September fight is classified as one such superfight. The undercard fights for these superfights are expected to air on the platform of their future television or media partner for the new boxing promotion.
As of now, the TKO boxing league has not announced a broadcast partner, but details are anticipated to be sorted out before the official launch later this year in September.
While TKO Group oversees the operation, Shapiro reiterated a crucial point: the company itself is assuming no financial liability for the boxing promotion. All funding is being provided by Saudi Arabia.
Furthermore, Shapiro clarified that the planned 12 individual fight cards per year will be managed separately from the major “superfight” events that may feature some of the sport`s biggest names.
“Those are two separate businesses,” Shapiro explained. “The Saudis are funding what would be these superfight cards. We’ll work with them on media rights deals and take a commission. We’ll work with them obviously on global partnerships. We’ll work with them on ticketing. We’ll handle the production.” He added that Dana White and Nick Khan would likely drive much of the promotion for these events.
Separately, TKO and their partners will operate their core boxing organization responsible for the average of 12 cards per year. Shapiro detailed this structure: “where we’re going out and doing as I mentioned 12 cards a year on average and getting a separate media rights fee, selling global partnerships to those cards and of course promoting and producing those cards on whatever media platform we choose to tie with. That’s the state of boxing.”
The promotion is currently being referred to informally as “TKO Boxing,” but Shapiro confirmed that this will not be its official name upon launch later this year. While he didn`t reveal the planned name, he assured it is already in development.
“I should mention it’s not going to be called TKO boxing,” Shapiro stated. “That seems like the soup of the day. We’ll be unveiling our name for our business fairly soon here. But it will not be TKO boxing.”
