TKO Group, the sports division controlled by entertainment giant Endeavor, will collaborate in a multi-year partnership with Saudi Arabian events company Sela and high-profile boxing figurehead Turki Alalshikh to launch a new boxing promotion.
The as-yet-unnamed promotion, which will debut later in 2025, will feature an in-house roster of fighters with a focus on developing the sport's upcoming talents.
Go deeper with GlobalData
It has also been reported, although without confirmation, that the promotion's debut could be the staging ground for a blockbuster super-middlewight bout between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford, which would be a money-spinning super-fight.
TKO owns the WWE wrestling promotion and the UFC mixed martial arts promotion, as well as sports and media agency heavyweight IMG, and events hospitality business On Location.
The new promotion will draw expertise from across the TKO range of brands, including UFC’s slate of Performance Institute training centers across the world, IMG’s promotional and broadcast experience, and On Location’s hospitality specialty.
UFC president and chief executive Dana White, and WWE president Nick Khan (a TKO board member) have been specifically identified as a pair that will “anchor” the executive leadership of the promotion.
Sela, owned by the Saudi government through the country’s Public Investment Fund sovereign wealth vehicle, has already helped to stage a number of high-profile boxing events including the September 2024 meeting between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, which drew a record crowd to London's Wembley stadium.
It is the presence of Turki Alalshikh though, chair of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA) and one of the masterminds of the Riyadh Season sports festival, that ensures this promotion could truly shake up the boxing world.
Alalshikh is one of boxing’s most powerful men and has exerted considerable influence across the sport, drawing both praise and scorn.
He has on one hand expedited fights between the world’s best fighters by bringing together previously feuding promoters such as Eddie Hearne and Frank Warren, but that has not been without the application of his and the state’s considerable wealth, and the positioning of Saudi Arabia at the center of these events, even those hosted outside of the country.
Alalshikh also owns high-profile boxing publication The Ring, which controls its titular linear boxing titles.
Given that the vast majority of the world’s elite boxing talent is signed to one of four prominent promotions (Golden Boy, Matchroom, Queensberry, or Top Rank), the new promotion will require the influence of one such as Alalshikh to bring top-line talent to its events.
On the announcement, TKO president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro said: “This is a strategic opportunity to reimagine the sport of boxing globally. TKO has the deep expertise, promotional prowess, and longstanding relationships.
“Turki Alalshikh and Sela share our passion and vision for evolving the current model. Together, we can bring the sweet science back to its rightful place in the forefront of the global sports ecosystem.”
In October the PIF, via its governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, revealed it would be scaling back its international investments in order to focus more on domestic projects.
As such the investment fund took a stake in global boxing-focused sports broadcaster DAZN and launched a regional arm, DAZN MENA, to cover the Middle East.
In October 2024, DAZN inked a major multi-year partnership with Riyadh Season that includes exclusive global rights for Riyadh Season boxing events outside of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, meaning there is also significant broadcast relationships and infrastructure in place for this new promotion to capitalize on.
Alalshikh has in the past faced criticism from other boxing promoters for bringing Riyadh Season events outside of Saudi Arabia to mixed results, with the Terence Crawford vs Israel Madrimov event that Riyadh Season held in California, US reportedly losing money and increasing pressure on the matchmaker.
Top rank chief Bob Arum stated in October 2024: “I think there was a lot of pushback on [Alalshikh] for doing fights outside of Saudi Arabia and outside of Riyadh Season.
“I think going forward … they will have to do the fights in Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia, which makes sense.”
This new boxing promotion could be a way to satisfy that, with Alalshikh able to continue to exert his influence over his own promotion and reduce his reliance on other matchmakers.
