DANA WHITE has suddenly been cut from promoting Canelo Alvarez’s fight against Terence Crawford.
TKO Holdings – who own the UFC and WWE – signed a multi-year partnership to establish a boxing promotion alongside Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh.
Jon Anik, Turki Alalshikh, and UFC boss Dana White[/caption]
As well as a UFC-style boxing league, two super-fights were set to be promoted by TKO and White every year.
And Canelo’s blockbuster against Crawford was due to kickstart the partnership on Friday, September 12 in Las Vegas at the Raiders Stadium.
Then all of a sudden, Alalshikh told Ring Magazine – which he owns – that the date of the bout was set to change to Saturday, September 13.
And he was also considering having the bout move to New York or Los Angeles – opposed to the £1.5BILLION, 65,000-seat Raiders Stadium.
It caused huge confusion with the news the fight would also be under the Riyadh Season banner and on pay-per-view.
That suggested White and Netflix were out of the picture – with UFC 320 also set for September 13 and due to clash with the new Canelo date.
Now, Alalshikh has confirmed Saudi-based Sela will promote the super-middleweight title decider for Riyadh.
A broadcaster is not yet decided but Riyadh Season have an exclusive deal with sports streaming service DAZN – who operate a PPV platform.
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Netflix debuted in boxing in November when Mike Tyson controversially came out of retirement aged 58 to fight Jake Paul.
And over 100 MILLION tuned in to watch YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul’s points win – causing the stream to crash.
The dramatic turn of events leaves White and TKO’s future in boxing up in the air – despite their plans to launch a brand new boxing league.
On Monday, May 12 Alalshikh revealed he was flying to New York with White also posting a picture in the Big Apple soon after.
SunSport understands Canelo, 34, and Crawford, 37, were also set to join them to film content with Netflix ahead of the bout.
But, just a day later and Alalshikh dropped the news that the fight’s date and location was under consideration.
White is yet to comment on his apparent removal from the mega-boxing bout and the future of his league.
He has partnered with Alalshikh before having held two events in Riyadh in the past.
Canelo beat William Scull, 32, to regain the 168lb undisputed thrown in early May as part of his four-bout deal with Alalshikh.
Meanwhile Crawford has not fought since moving up to 154lb to win the WBA title against Israil Madrimov, 30, in August 2024.
Terence Crawford facing off with Canelo Alvarez[/caption].
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