What if the same people designated to protect a sport and its athletes were also the ones most eager to sell it out to the highest bidder? Welcome to the world of boxing.
Anyone with even remedial knowledge of boxing history knows that our sport has had the worst watchdogs. Historically, the sport has been run by hustlers, thugs, con men, and carpetbagging hucksters looking to make a quick buck off the blood, sweat, and tears of fighters. Its media hasn’t been much better.
And the fighters, more often than not, eventually find themselves broke and broken by this sport that swears it loves them, but just never gets around to really showing it.
Even in a day and age where legislation, in the form of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, exists to protect fighters from abuse and exploitative business practices, few fighters ever call on that protection. Why? Because corruption and exploitation have become part of the boxing business culture and a fighter too careful about being treated right is going to have a tough time finding work.
But, still, the law exists. That’s a good thing for fighters, at least in theory.
And that’s why UFC/WWE parent company TKO Group, recently partnered up with Saudi Arabia and Saudi figurehead Turki Alalshikh for the purpose of beginning a boxing promotion, apparently wants the Ali Act neutered or flat-out gone.
In an excerpt from an email posted in the website Combat Sports Law, the current president of the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC), Michael Mazzulli, revealed that there are ongoing efforts by TKO Group to “amend” the Ali Act.
“Presently the UFC/TKO is requesting an amendment change to the Mohammad Ali Act [sic],” the memo read. “The board of directors is working with them to make sure the ABC is still part of the federal law.”
The behind the scenes maneuvering to alter the federal law shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given who Saudi funders have designated to handle the logistics for their US boxing plans.
In February, TKO Group CEO Ari Emanuel expressed his disdain for the Ali Act in an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, as rumors began to swirl again that his company may be exploring a run at boxing.
“We’re starting to talk about boxing,” Emanuel said. “We’re kind of looking at that right now. I think you’ve got the Ali Act that hurt it. Hopefully, who knows what’s going to happen with the Ali Act. And then Dana [White] has a plan for boxing. We’ll see.”
A month later, it was announced that TKO and the Saudis had partnered up.
And TKO, coming off a $375 million antitrust lawsuit settlement for a UFC property that was allowed to skirt around the Ali Act, is likely wincing at the liability involved in conducting their predatory, exploitative business as usual in a sport with actual guardrails and safety nets.
So, they have apparently been working, undercover, with ABC regulators to backdoor beneficial changes to the Ali Act. And, most likely, they will try to use their friendly relationship with President Trump and the Trump administration (WWE part-owner Linda McMahon is a member of the Trump cabinet, as well as a TKO stock holder) as leverage to get their way.
In a Boxingscene piece by Lance Pugmire, an unnamed “official” is quoted as saying that TKO Group’s targeted “amendment” involves their ability as a promotion to award their own belts. Under current legislation, a promoter is prohibited from being affiliated with, controlling, or having financial ties to a sanctioning organization. The idea is to prevent exploitative scenarios where fighters are bound to a promotion that utilizes titles and/or rankings as a means to control financial and/or contractual terms.
TKO, via a UFC spokesperson, has another take on this issue, recently telling ESPN that the proposed changes are meant to “enhance” the Ali Act by giving fighters “more opportunities.”
“TKO is having preliminary conversations with members of Congress about how we can work together to expand the Ali Act to create more choices and opportunities for boxers,” they told ESPN “We believe the enhancements we are discussing could help to inspire a boxing revival in America, provide American boxers with access to greater opportunities and better protections, and lead to more boxing events across our country.”
Well, the freedom to be exploited more fully is certainly…a thing.
And, also, who among us believes that the creation of belts will be the only Ali Act amendment pursued?
While it’s unlikely the Ali Act could be repealed, it’s quite possible– given TKO’s cozy relationship with the Trump administration and just the general laissez-faire attitude towards regulation present in Congress these days– that the legislation could be aggressively “amended” into nothingness.
The only pushback against turning the Ali Act into empty words on paper could come from the ABC, whose members, apparently, are being courted by TKO and from media, many of whom are currently working for (or hoping to work for) Saudi interests tied to this TKO boxing project.
In other words, there appears to be nothing and nobody standing in the way of nullifying the Ali Act and/or modifying it in the best interest of the Saudi-motored TKO Group.
It would be naive to think that Dana White, essentially declared the face of the TKO boxing initiative, is just looking to add another set of belts to the belt-heavy boxing landscape. As a matter of fact, White, basking in the glow of TKO’s initial announcement, flat-out said that his goal is to do away with all other belts. A self-congratulatory Turki Alalshikh, meanwhile, backed White up, vowing that TKO would “crush everything” in its way.
Despite the pair walking back their bluster when establishment boxing powers began to take their statements as the declarations of war that they were, the reality is that the major effort involved in amending the Ali Act in order to create their own belts only makes sense if they have the ONLY belts.
This leads one to believe that the present push is, most likely, TKO moving to clear a path for their palace, funded by a murderous monarchy and enabled by regulators and compliant media, from which they can rake in revenue and, per their MO, turn the sport into slick, but meaningless corporate fluff built on the practice of exploiting fighters as expendable company property.
The frustrating part is that there may be nobody around who will even try to stop them.
Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com
