If you needed a reminder of how much the presence of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign funds have changed boxing, look no further than this weekend as the sweet science takes a unique double-dip on Cinco de Mayo weekend.
On Friday night, Ring Magazine is taking on the role of promoter for the first-ever fight card in New York’s Times Square. The event is the first part of a twin billing for over-the-top streamer DAZN, which will also broadcast Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s maiden voyage to Riyadh in a super middleweight title fight against William Scull.
The fights in Times Square on Friday night are Ryan Garcia vs. Rolando Romero, Devin Haney vs. Jose Ramirez and Teofimo Lopez Jr. vs. Arnold Barboza Jr.
Both media companies have been transformed by significant investments from the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund for the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
That Ring, the venerated “Bible of Boxing” that has covered and ranked fighters for more than a century, is branching out into promotion is something that would have been inconceivable in the days of legendary scribe Bert Sugar or even under its founding editor Nat Fleischer. Yet under new owner Turki Alalshikh, the chair of the kingdom’s entertainment authority who has long vowed to fix a “broken” sport, Ring is making a resurgence of sorts in the social media age.
The site’s newfound might may blur the lines between editorial and matchmaking, but those charges aren’t exactly new. In 1976, managing editor Johnny Ort fabricated records and rankings of fighters to make them more attractive for a fight series promoted by Don King that was set to air on ABC. The network canceled the series, but the scandal cast a pall over the magazine’s reputation.
Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions bought Ring in 2007 in hopes of restoring the outlet to its former glory, though the purchase revived questions about Ring’s proximity to a major promoter, as its rankings were still used to make fights. Although Golden Boy didn’t get involved in editorial or ranking decisions, it also didn’t improve the outlet’s business prospects. De La Hoya sold the magazine to Alalshikh for $10 million last fall.
In the last several months, Alalshikh reloaded the site with new writers, including former ESPN and The Athletic boxing scribe Mike Coppinger and an increased output on social media. To the latter point, Alalshikh controversially purchased the Twitter/X account of another prominent boxing insider, Michael Benson, for an undisclosed amount. He immediately rebranded it as Ring’s official account, initially giving the new handle close to 500,000 followers on Twitter/X. (The account now has just under 340,000.)
Alalshikh also plans to disrupt the sport with his investment in a forthcoming TKO boxing league, drawing high praise from Dana White.
Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney (as well as NYC native Teofimo Lopez) will battle in separate fights, with the aim of a potential rematch between Garcia and Haney; the former’s prior win was marred by a positive test for a banned substance. Ring’s card is being streamed live by DAZN, the global over-the-top broadcaster that has been distributing combat sports in the U.S. since September 2018.
The U.K.-based service is a far bigger media player for sports rights in Europe and Asia than in the U.S., where the most prominent sports leagues are linked with legacy media companies such as Disney, Paramount, Fox and others. In fact, DAZN’s initial appeal stateside was that it would make boxing, MMA and other combat sports more readily available outside of the pay-per-view model by charging annual or monthly subscriptions to all its combat sports programming.
DAZN staked a flag in boxing by signing a broadcasting deal with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, the promotional company of heavyweight Anthony Joshua. It also held streaming rights to Bellator, the MMA competition then owned by Viacom (now Paramount).
To beef up its U.S. offerings, DAZN inked Alvarez, the sport’s biggest star, to what was then the biggest athlete contract in sports history; a five-year, 11-fight deal worth $365 million. Alvarez was looking for a media partner after HBO exited the boxing business while DAZN wanted to make a big splash with a signature athlete Americans were familiar with. It also added MLB studio shows and briefly hosted The Pat McAfee Show, though both arrangements were canceled at the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.
In fact, COVID-19 seemed to expose some of the platform’s limitations as a sports-only service. As the world shut down and sports leagues paused, DAZN said that it would not pay its content partners as there were no games or fights being held. Though combat sports were among the first events to return to action in the summer of 2020, DAZN’s declaration prompted Alvarez to look to get out from his contract. (It has led to a yearslong feud between Alvarez and De La Hoya, which was front-and-center this time last May.)
Over the years, various reports stated that DAZN has amassed nine-figure losses in attempts to be the Netflix of sports streaming around the world. Yet in February, streamer sold a minority stake to SURJ Sports, which is part of PIF, for a reported $1 billion. The two entities are also developing DAZN MENA, a joint venture to broadcast sports across the Middle East and North Africa.
Alvarez came back to DAZN for some fights after being released from his original deal. He’s also verbally sparred with Alalshikh as the Saudi matchmaker made waves in the sport. Alalshikh had been pushing to make a superfight between the Mexican superstar and welterweight king Terence “Bud” Crawford, but Alvarez reportedly took issue with his approach.
In an April 28 podcast interview with veteran reporter Dan Rafael, Alvarez said that meeting Alalshikh in London cleared up some misunderstandings as comments about one another came through intermediaries. Canelo walked away their February with a four-fight agreement worth a rumored $400 million, beginning with Saturday’s fight against Scull. Should prevail over Scull, a 15-1 underdog, Alvarez is expected to finally get in the ring with Crawford in September for one of the most anticipated fights in recent memory.
(This story has been updated in the third paragraph to add the fight card.)
