Zuffa Boxing progress is upward, but let's cool the takeover talk

In the moment, it was the top sound byte of the evening for Zuffa Boxing head Dana White to declare his attempted takeover of the sport was like fighting “babies.”

“That was a planted talking point,” ProBoxTV’s Chris Algieri said on Monday’s episode of “BoxingScene Today.” 

Algieri said White’s rival promoters “are not fighting you. They’re putting on terrific fights. They’re [currently] not worried about Zuffa at all.”

Even though the mutual financier Turki Alalshikh is connected to both Zuffa Boxing and this weekend’s “Ring” card in Las Vegas headlined by the Ryan Garcia-Mario Barrios WBC welterweight title fight, promoters Premier Boxing Champions and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions have those combatants under contract – for now.

Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, which White also took aim at, stages this weekend’s Josh Warrington-Leigh Wood card in England followed by next week’s expected super-featherweight unification firefight between Mexicans Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez and Emanuel Navarrete in Arizona.

And PBC returns next month with a Prime Video pay-per-view headlined by WBC 154lbs champion Sebastian Fundora versus former unified welterweight champion Keith Thurman in Las Vegas.

“This is a lights-out month,” analyst Paulie Malignaggi said.

What can’t be denied, Malignaggi said, is that Zuffa’s repetitive action, returning with the March 8 debut of IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia leading the Paramount+ card with a title defense, is that “it’ll keep mainstream boxing on its toes.”

The completion of Zuffa’s third card allowed the analysts and former world champions to assess the new promotion’s progress.

Algieri said he’s viewed the first three cards as a “Beta test” to root out bugs and help build future showdowns like the apparent showdown of light-heavyweight knockout winners Umar Dzambekov and Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdvic.

It has also drawn the attendance of former champions Teofimo Lopez, Caleb Plant, Murodjan “M.J.” Akhmadaliev and Regis Prograis while Zuffa has steadily added talent, including former featherweight champion Mark Magsayo with a report indicating former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jnr is coming aboard.

White has urged followers to give the promotion this year to inspect its development and plans.

While the UFC CEO/President has said he doesn’t want to work with sanctioning bodies, his ties to Alalshikh give Zuffa fighters the opportunity to compete in the higher-profile “Ring” cards.

Not having that would be stifling, said Malignaggi, since Zuffa originally spoke of keeping its stable limited to the competition of its own belts.

“It’s almost like our [ProBox] model but there [was] no out [without ‘Ring’ fights],” Malignaggi said. “You don’t want to keep them in a box … until Zuffa creates a championship level that is respected – a bona fide champion – you have to ask, ‘What are they moving to?’”

Algieri responded, “They’re building it as we speak. That ecosystem is going to grow.”

Bringing in older/former world champions can bring that credibility to the Zuffa fighters who defeat them.

By bringing in Ruiz, for instance, Zuffa would ideally want one of its younger heavyweights, like Sunday main-event winner Efe Ajagba, to defeat Ruiz and gain a greater brand.

While Malignaggi didn’t think Ajagba made a big impression by stopping former heavyweight champion Charles Martin Sunday, the analysts assessed that Dzambekov did by delivering a “knockout-of-the-year contender” destructive second-round knockout victory on an uppercut.

“The guy can fight. If you excel that much, you’re ready for the next level,” of Kalajdzic, Algieri said.

Host Jimmy Smith said Dzambekov’s performance shows the urgency for Zuffa to attract and sign talent.

“They better get some good guys to keep him fed,” Smith said.

Algieri believes it possible, praising the circuit for “making headway very fast,” while offering steady dates.

Charting the growth this year will likely be like documenting a child’s height over time on the kitchen door jamb.

For now, said the analysts, the promotion still pales in comparison to the talent the established promoters offer.

“Zuffa fights on Sunday is a good thing,” Malignaggi said.

Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.