Fight fans are counting down the days to the highly anticipated super middleweight showdown between Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford, scheduled for September 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. In March, Dana White joined forces with Saudi promoter Turki Alalshikh under the TKO banner to fix the broken and chaotic boxing and redefine the sport.

They aim to revive the long-lost Zuffa boxing legacy and write a bold “new chapter” in the sport’s history. A WWE executive is also taking a key role in this ambitious venture, bringing star power and organizational muscle to the project. Still, critics remain unconvinced. British boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has repeatedly slammed White’s approach, pointing out the stark contrast between boxing promotions and UFC-style contracts.

Eddie Hearn delivers stark reality check to Dana White as Canelo-Crawford approaches

Boxing contracts operate very differently from UFC deals. While UFC fighters often sign multi-fight agreements spanning three to six bouts, boxing fighters typically negotiate a new contract for each individual fight. Speaking to FightHype.com, promoter Eddie Hearn fired a blunt reality check in response to a viral clip showing Dana White reading from a script during the Canelo vs. Crawford press conference. Hearn underscored his extensive boxing expertise and characterized White as a “casual” fan of the sport.

Hearn stated, “I can tell you, on every show, every fighter, their record, probably everyone they’ve ever faced. I don’t need a script. That’s my bread and butter. Dana knows his UFC fighters inside out, but in boxing, it’s a different game. He can talk about teleprompters all he wants, but he doesn’t know boxing the same way because it’s not his business.”

Hearn’s observation underscores a key point: while White is a master of MMA and the UFC, with more than three decades of experience, boxing has proven to be a far tougher arena. White first dipped his toes into the boxing world with the high-profile Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather superfight in October 2017. At Freddie Roach’s Wild Card West boxing club, he confidently declared he was “getting into boxing, 100 percent.”

However, by 2022, he acknowledged the challenges of the sport, calling boxing promotion “a broken business that is an absolute nightmare to try to fix.” Despite the hurdles, White hasn’t backed down. In 2024, he promoted a card featuring Irish boxer Callum Walsh, streamed on UFC Fight Pass.

How Dana White & partners compensate boxers in their new league

“The stuff I’m doing with boxing, we haven’t even announced yet. Nobody even knows what the f*ck I’m doing,” Dana White revealed in his interview on the FullSend podcast. He emphasized that the upcoming Canelo vs. Crawford matchup is strictly a one-off event, while TKO will mark the official launch of his boxing promotion next year.

White’s move into boxing comes amid scrutiny over fighter pay, with the UFC and its president frequently criticized for undercompensating athletes – a concern recently highlighted in multiple antitrust lawsuits against the promotion. As White prepares to make his boxing debut, questions about pay structures under his TKO banner have already begun to surface.

The discussion around fighter pay continues to gain attention, especially with the amended Ali Act in place to protect boxers from exploitation. Earlier this year, the boxing community examined a proposed TKO contract detailing pay scales and company obligations, aligned with current regulations, signaling that fighter compensation will remain under careful scrutiny.

With no new developments in the latest update, we’ll share any news as soon as it becomes available—stay tuned.