The Paramount Skydance acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery closes Tuesday, October 6. The combined company will be called Skydance, is valued at roughly $110 billion, and begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SKYD.<\/p>\n
For boxing, the relevant detail is who runs sports.<\/p>\n
CNBC reported Monday that David Berson, president and chief executive of CBS Sports, will lead a newly formed global sports group covering all networks, platforms and territories. CBS Sports, TNT Sports and WBD Sports roll up into it. Luis Silberwasser, chairman and chief executive of TNT Sports since 2022, is departing.<\/p>\n
Berson is the executive who, alongside Paramount leadership, coordinated the seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights agreement that brought UFC to Paramount+ through 2032, working with TKO and Dana White. He now oversees a portfolio that includes NFL Sunday afternoon games, all of March Madness, college football, the NHL, NASCAR, the French Open and the Masters.<\/p>\n
And Zuffa Boxing.<\/p>\n
Paramount+ became the exclusive home of Zuffa Boxing in the United States, Canada and Latin America under a five-year agreement announced in September 2025, with selected events eligible for CBS simulcast. SportsPro has reported the deal is worth around $100 million a year for 12 events. Zuffa Boxing is owned 60 percent by Sela and 40 percent by TKO, with the Saudis paying TKO $10 million annually to run day-to-day operations.<\/p>\n
So as of tomorrow, the promotion Dana White runs is carried by a company with touchpoints in nearly every major professional and college sport in the United States, the notable exception being the NBA.<\/p>\n
White was asked about boxing\u2019s broadcast landscape on The Diary of a CEO, in an episode released Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am now involved in boxing. I have the only global television deal right on Paramount,\u201d White said. \u201cAll these other guys are on a streaming service. What they\u2019ve done is they\u2019ve chased everybody out of the business. Television networks don\u2019t want to deal with it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said boxing was his first love, that he knew the sport was broken, and that he is \u201ctwo years ahead of where I thought I would be\u201d because the existing promoters are bad at the job. His stated plan is tied to the seven-year Paramount term: build a combat sports brand to a level that cannot be replicated.<\/p>\n
The UFC side of that is already working for the broadcaster. Paramount\u2019s second-quarter shareholder letter credited UFC, alongside Dutton Ranch and the FIFA World Cup, with the best retention quarter in Paramount+ history, taking the service to 81.6 million subscribers worldwide. \u201cIt\u2019s a powerful validation of what we\u2019ve long believed: premium live sports improve engagement, strengthen retention, and increase the value of our service for subscribers,\u201d the company told investors.<\/p>\n
There is a detail in the corporate history worth noting. Paramount owns Showtime, which broadcast boxing for 37 years until it closed Showtime Sports in December 2023, shortly before the Skydance transaction. The company that shut down one of the sport\u2019s last great boxing departments is now the company carrying the promotion that says it is rebuilding the sport.<\/p>\n
White also used the podcast to restate his view of his British counterparts, with Joshua\u2019s promoter again the target.<\/p>\n
\u201cEddie Hearn is weak. His dad built that business. His dad\u2019s a real guy,\u201d White said. \u201cAnd I see it in Frank Warren too. Frank Warren is a real guy. And I\u2019m not saying this to s*** on Eddie, I\u2019m just being honest, and I don\u2019t dislike Eddie, I don\u2019t dislike him, but he\u2019s not the guy, his dad\u2019s the guy and Frank Warren.\u201d He added that nobody has done more to hurt Fury vs. Joshua than Hearn.<\/p>\n
Those remarks landed the same week the British Boxing Board of Control confirmed that Zuffa Boxing is not among the promoters of record for Fury vs. Joshua, which goes to Queensberry, Matchroom and Sela.<\/p>\n