UFC CEO Dana White wants to make a long-lasting splash in the boxing world, and Mike Tyson thinks he knows how that can be achieved.
The first Zuffa Boxing event is scheduled to take place on Friday, and it’ll serve as an appetizer just one night before the UFC 324 show. Just before UFC makes its Paramount+ debut, Zuffa Boxing 01 will be headlined by a middleweight showdown between the undefeated Callum Walsh and Carlos Ocampo.
Ahead of the event, which will be held at the newly renamed Meta APEX, Tyson took to Hard Rock Bet to share his belief that White must be on his toes regarding the key promoters of the boxing world (via MMAMania).
“Boxing was created broken, and it’s going to die broken,” Tyson said. “He has to understand the kind of people he’s dealing with. I think he dealt with Turki [Alalshikh], but I don’t think he actually dealt with the core of boxing people. He’s going to have to crush every one of them. Everything in boxing is not on the table. There’s always something underneath the table that we don’t know about and that’s boxing. That’s what I know. That’s the golden rule in boxing.”
White recently told reporters the narrative that he’s trying to tear boxing apart isn’t true. The UFC boss insisted that the WBC, IBF, WBA, and WBO will still have their championships. He also said that top promoters such as Eddie Hearn and Bob Arum will still have the ability to put on shows even if Zuffa Boxing succeeds.
Whether or not White can lure some significant boxing names under the Zuffa umbrella for the long haul remains to be seen. He recently scored a big roster addition in the form of top cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia. White hopes to make plenty of other splash signings in the coming months and years.