Saudi Arabia’s 3-Part Plan to Take Over Boxing

Shockwaves were sent around the boxing world on Wednesday morning when it was reported that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was planning to launch an audacious £4 billion takeover of the sport.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of the country that has made waves in the sports industry in recent times, has reportedly been in talks with promotional companies including Matchroom, Queensberry, Premier Boxing Champions and Top Rank about potentially buying them out.

Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh is a massive fan of the sweet science and has seen his influence grow over recent years to the point where he is now already one of the most powerful men in all of the sport. With that in mind, a report from The Sun suggests that Alalshikh has drawn up a three-stage plan to revolutionise the sport if the PIF are successful in acquiring boxing’s biggest promotional outfits.

The 3 Changes Turki Alalshikh Plans to Make to Boxing if Saudi Takeover Happens

The 42-year-old could be set to alter the face of boxing

One governing body

The first major change in store would be a unification of all four major boxing governing bodies; the World Boxing Council (WBC), the World Boxing Association (WBA), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organisation (WBO). They have been seen as the primary sanctioning bodies of the boxing universe for decades, from as far back as 1921 for the WBA to the youngest of the four, the WBO, from 1988. Despite broadly sharing the same rules, they all work independently of each other, with unique stances on how they approach certain matters such as mandatory challengers or conditions of sanctioned fights.

Less weight classes

Alalshikh reportedly wants to cut the number of classes in the sport to make it easier for fans to keep track of them. As of today, there are a total of 17 classes on the men’s side of boxing and 16 for women. As the four current major sanctioning bodies have their own title belt for each weight class, this means there are a considerable number of fighters who could lay claim to being ‘world champion’ at any given time.

By dropping both the number of weight classes and combining all four major governing bodies into one, titles would instantly become more prestigious.

Persuade promoters to work with each other

In an ideal world, the PIF would be able to take control of every recognised promotional company in the boxing world. While Saudi Arabia is certainly rich enough to afford such a mass purchase, but there is a recognition that it may not be possible to buy-out all existing competition. In these instances, Alalshikh wants to break down the promotional barriers that have stopped some of boxing’s biggest fights from happening in the past.

Alalshikh has already made a massive impact on the sport over the past few years, putting together fights such as Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed world heavyweight championship – a bout that had previously stalled due to boxing politics getting in the way. If he can genuinely bring the whole sport under one umbrella, though, then his impact will be felt for generations to come.

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