For decades, boxing existed without ever totally fixing itself. Power remained fractured, and the lines of authority remained blurry. Everyone knew it, but nothing changed. However, that ease is now being challenged—not from within, but from beyond.

Dana White‘s growing prominence in boxing reform has sparked a defensive response throughout the sport. At the heart of it is the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act. And, at the WBA convention, Bernard Hopkins made it clear that this moment did not come out of nowhere.

Bernard Hopkins goes all out on Dana White and ‘outside’ intervention

Bernard Hopkins didn’t mince words at the WBA convention as he portrayed Dana White as an opponent, not someone to be embraced. For him, the UFC boss is someone whose existence in the sport should force accountability. “Sometimes you need that opponent,” Hopkins stated, emphasizing that competition reveals what was overlooked while things felt comfortable.

‘The Executioner’ was most frustrated by how late the sport chose to care. He emphasized that for years, the sport allowed its structure to be loose and weak. “We must take responsibility for letting the door be so wide open and so disrespectful for decades,” he said while questioning how boxing could suddenly act outraged now.

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“Will you let anybody from any other place in the world come here to our sport and say, ‘Hey, we need to fix y’all’s sport up?'” he asked. To him, the solution should have been evident long ago. The former world champion agreed that Dana White and others will act in their own interests. This did not surprise him at all. The true failing, in his opinion, was allowing that opening to exist in the first place.

“Whether it’s our opponent, whether it’s good or bad for boxing, people are going to be what they’re going to be.” And while Bernard Hopkins does believe that it’s not too late, the former champion does believe that the sport of boxing is on a respirator. Not dead. Not safe, either. Just barely holding on.

Hopkins’ message was not about fear. It was all about urgency. According to him, Dana White isn’t here to save boxing. He came here because boxing left space unguarded. The sport now has a choice: lace up the gloves and protect itself, or let others define what it will become. And while he believes the people involved in the sport should raise their guard, Dana White is doing his best to earn their trust.

White asks the boxing world to bet on him

What Bernard Hopkins said did not come out of nowhere. It came on top of words Dana White had already spoken. Long before Hopkins portrayed White as an “enemy” who was forcing boxing to wake up, the UFC CEO had already drawn his line and urged the sport to respond. The head honcho’s message was direct and measured.

He said he wasn’t trying to tear boxing down or erase its safeguards. “I’m definitely not trying to get rid of the Muhammad Ali Act,” he told Manouk Akopyan. Instead, his pitch centered on the idea of choice. According to Dana White, fighters will not be pushed to do anything. They can stick with the current system or “come bet on me and fight in our organizations.” That framing is important because it puts the focus back on boxing itself.

He also explained why he thinks this moment exists at all. White criticized the sport’s reliance on outside funding to stage its biggest fights, calling it unsustainable. In his opinion, boxing did more than just leave the door open; it completely stopped guarding it. His solution is structure, consistency, and a completely redesigned product from the ground up.

“The best are going to fight the best,” he promised, regardless of whether sanctioning bodies were involved or not. That context reshapes Bernard Hopkins’ warning. Hopkins was not responding to a surprise invasion. He was responding to a plan that had already been laid out. White spoke first. Boxing answered later. And now the question is not whether Dana White belongs in boxing, but if the sport is prepared to defend its own future.