Talking Turki in London with Zuffa Boxing & Eddie Hearn
What on Earth happened? It's all about symbolism and control.
Did you know there was a Peace Summit for boxing? I don’t know for sure who called it, but is seems Turki Alalshikh, the self-styled Prince of Pugilism, wanted to settle some family business.
To recap what happened in London last week at the de facto summit of major international boxing promoters, including Turki Alalshikh of Riyadh Season, Nick Khan of TKO/Zuffa Boxing, and Eddie Hearn of Matchroom:
Turki Alalshikh wanted all the major boxing promoters to meet him in London for a short-notice summit. I guess all the family in-fighting isn’t so much fun now that it’s gotten very personal.
The backdrop: Dana White and Eddie Hearn have been having a war of words for the last three months. Eddie Hearn has signed Tom Aspinall and Ian Garry to commercial deals and shit-talked the UFC’s pay scale. Dana White says Eddie doesn’t know what he’s talking about (although it may be that Dana doesn’t know what he’s talking about), especially when it comes to promoting Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua. We don’t even know when that fight will happen or where.
The Saudis and UAE lost a lot of money in the US/Israel vs. Iranian conflict
Turki managed to keep his power thanks to the collapse of his Kingdom sports investment rival Yasir Al-Rumayyan and the Public Investment Fund cutting back on its sporting investments, including LIV Golf. Most US media analysts misread it at the time, but MMA Draw readers were not surprised at the outcome.
Eddie Hearn and Matchroom were working on Saudi financing for MB and darts, including Mr. Hearn spending Christmas at the Monster Inoue fight in Riyadh to negotiate. Instead, the Saudis pulled back on darts financing and Bruin Capital stepped in and put in 15% of capital for a seat at the table.
Turki’s boxing events continue to lose money and interest (see Times Square debacle with Ed Pereira, Tyson Fury in Tottenham, Rico Verhoeven vs. Oleksandr Usyk at the Pyramids). Canelo’s fight with Christian Mbilli just got pushed back another month, likely because of Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn in September. The Benn experiment is a financial disaster and an overpay for Zuffa Boxing. Turki helped Zuffa Boxing poach Benn away from Eddie Hearn only for it to backfire.
Zuffa Boxing is getting paid a reported $100M a year by Paramount for an atrocious product nobody watches as a JV with SELA but is entirely positioned to take over boxing through pure process and money (see: Dan Canobbio’s recent comments to Ariel Helwani). The one financially successful fight for Turki’s Riyadh Season was the one that TKO helped him promote: Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Alvarez.
Turki posted a very strange comment about losing his memory and health issues, teasing a promotional meeting with the world powers in boxing. (NY Times reported about his decade-long cancer/tumor issues.)
“I’ll do my best to do a meeting soon between my brothers Dana White, Nick Khan, Frank Warren, Eddie Hearn, and my partners and friends. To make peace and revolution for boxing. I hope I succeed and boxing fans see the white smoke rise from the chimney.
“I want to do it before losing my memory. I’m afraid in 2028 or 2029 I’ll forget my name.”
So, what did we get at Turki’s summit?
Turki met with the major players in London plus Nick Khan, but not Dana White.
Turki and Nick Khan posed for their own photo separate from the photo of the rest of the promoters at the kids’ table.
World Boxing News@WorldBoxingNewsPromoter Divide. 👀 Turki Alalshikh managed to summon a lot of the major promoters he works with, but couldn't manage to get Nick Khan in a photo with them all. ❌️ There still looks to be a noticeable split despite the intentions. 😳
11:38 PM · Jun 30, 2026 · 9.81K Views2 Replies · 5 Reposts · 16 LikesTurki bragged about “owning” 60% of Zuffa Boxing (which is interesting, because the original press release said that the Saudi-owned company SELA was TKO’s partner in Zuffa Boxing) while also running Ring events. Remember, Turki is playing with Saudi money, not his own.
Turki tried to re-establish himself as the center of the boxing universe and peacemaker, trying to calm promotional wars that were largely triggered by his own actions.
Turki attacked boxing writer Darshan Desai for mild criticism, calling him an Ariel Helwani stooge.
TURKI ALALSHIKH@Turki_alalshikhThis is why I asked about your IQ and give back the phone to Helwani👍🏻
EverythingBoxing | Darshan Desai @EverythingBoxi2@Turki_alalshikh we owned 60% of Zuffa and I am the chairman of the board 👍🏻🤷🏻♂️… So the meeting didn't involve Nick Khan or Dana White? And it was just you and the others. That wasn't what was portrayed but sure. If it did involve either or, why weren't they in the picture? no one can force11:57 PM · Jun 30, 2026 · 633K Views88 Replies · 45 Reposts · 867 LikesMost observers were left totally confused as to the point of the meeting.
The guy whose head has to be spinning the most is Stephen Espinoza, former Showtime boxing boss who helped produce mega-fights all the way up through 2023.
Three years ago, Espinoza was busy promoting three separate $20M Las Vegas boxing gates.
Dana White’s response? Shitting all over Espinoza as a loser and grifter.
“That’s exactly the type of response I would expect from that weasel Espinoza,” White wrote on Instagram. “That scumbag has absolutely nothing to do with the success of Canelo [Alvarez], Ryan Garcia and Terence Crawford. Those guys are mega stars and they are the ones responsible for driving the gates in their fights. For him to even try and take any credit at all shows you what an arrogant, delusional [piece of s*** ] that guy is.”
Showtime was believed to be losing money on boxing, so they dumped Espinoza and got out of the sport.
Turki Alalshikh filled the void.
Three years later, can anyone truly argue boxing is in a better place under Turki than it was under Stephen Espinoza? Perhaps internationally, yes, but certainly not in the United States.
For his troubles, Espinoza was named as a defendant in a $340M lawsuit by Floyd Mayweather in Los Angeles for allegedly being part of a scheme to divert Floyd’s prize money. The case was removed from state to Federal court by Showtime, a dead brand (owned by David Ellison’s Paramount) which nonetheless still has to legally defend itself from Mayweather’s legal claims.
Even crazier, Espinoza recently filed a Federal court declaration in support of Mayweather after he got sued by CSI Sports over allegations that he took an advance for a Mike Tyson fight only to renege on contractual obligations.
Comparing the Espinoza vs. Turki eras
The HBO Boxing brand is dead. Showtime is dead. Is the boxing business in better shape under Turki’s Ring/Zuffa hybrid promotional front?
DAZN has now siloed every non-Zuffa boxing promoter into their corner and is airing events on TNT in the States on the 4th of July.
According to The Financial Times, financier Len Blavatnik just domiciled DAZN in the Cayman Islands, likely to seek more financing or perhaps an IPO.
What happens if DAZN collapses and there’s no more money flowing in? The whole boxing universe collapses.
We’re already seeing signs of strain in boxing media, with Boxing Scene laying off staff, plus Paul Magno’s inspiring change of heart, and the public claims of financial troubles at Boxing Social.
If all of this smells like the musty old scent of congestive failure that plagued MMA media, you’re not alone.
Under Turki’s ownership, The Ring now completely dominates boxing media. It was Turki’s smartest investment and Oscar De La Hoya’s dumbest move to date. He brought in Rick Reeno (who formerly owned Boxing Scene, then sold it to Showtime) and Mike Coppinger (from ESPN). Turki drives the boxing news cycle on Ring. All that’s left for semi-independent media are outlets like Uncrowned or IFL TV.
As Paul Magno recently wrote at The Boxing Tribune:
This whole setup—Fury-Wach, Joshua-Prenga—is a pile of fetid dog shit staining the boxing schedule, even if it does end up being a prelude to Fury-Joshua, which is about one-eighth as interesting as it would’ve been seven or eight years ago.
Unless the Saudis paying to make these fights might also want to pay me.
This is where the new me steps in.
…
I’m learning. Pay me enough and I’ll say anything in any way, and I’ll always end up deferring to whatever my boss’ agenda is. Hell, I don’t even need a big hunk of cheddar. Just pay me. Period. Just a taste. And give me an occasional press pass so I can park my swamp ass between the sissy with the journalism degree and the nerd compiling punch stats, discussing stylistic matchups and where Dan Rafael got those scrumptious-looking chocolate chip cookies.I don’t want to keep being this loser, like Mr. Ring Magazine Senior Writer pointed out, walking around saying shit like it doesn’t matter whose toes I step on, being so cocky as to think that being a writer gives me a pass to say anything I feel to be true. What a coward I’ve been! I want to be part of the brotherhood of boxing media, fearful of pissing off the wrong person and self-censoring like a motherfucker.
I know I can do it.
The idea was supposed to revolve around the concept of Turki as a benevolent dictator in boxing and that everyone would comfortably follow his lead until they were no longer useful.
Then the TKO/Zuffa Boxing heavyweights would take over boxing in a fait accompli. It’s only dawning on the incumbent powers-that-be in boxing that this was the game plan all along.
On the MMA side of the world, those who have been destroyed by the Zuffa meat grinder can only laugh in despair at how naive their boxing counterparts have been.
Turki is attempting to re-establish the narrative that he personally runs boxing. He’s attempting to stop the in-fighting between the key boxing promoters.
At the same time, he’s establishing that he — and Nick Khan — are in charge. Yet, very few fans give a damn or care to watch Zuffa Boxing.
Which is why Dan Canobbio’s comments about Zuffa Boxing being a long-term winner are right but perhaps for the wrong reasons. Zuffa’s entire goal is to own the shrinking pie that is boxing, monopolize it, then control the pay structure as they have with UFC and now WWE. I hope boxers enjoy fighting for 15% of revenue.
The yin-and-the-yang strategy. For the biggest fights, Turki finances those in his own Saudi silo while Zuffa cleans up on the minor or mid-major events.
The problem for Turki is how much time, medically or financially or politically, does he have left?
The problem for Nick Khan is that Zuffa Boxing is the absolute shits. It has a very small audience, and the production/scripting format is an abomination. Max Kellerman is a disgrace.
Joe Tessitore is reading narratives and scripts as if Vince McMahon is barking in his ear. “Beltholders” and “fighters come back stronger after a loss” and artificial screaming when a fighter gets knocked down. Everything feels entirely forced and corporate, which was never truly the spirit of boxing.
The marketplace is telling us that there are fans who are curious about what Turki is up to but not enough to pay to watch the fights he puts on. Zuffa Boxing is getting a free ride because it’s entirely subsidized due to politics involving the Ellisons and Ari Emanuel.
Where’s the beef? The Turki/Zuffa Boxing tag team is all about choking the life out of boxing through process. The Berlin Wall of Boxing has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
Zach Arnold is lead opinion writer for The MMA Draw on Substack. His archives can be read at FightOpinion.com. Contact Zach: fightopinion at protonmail dot com.
This is the shit. Listen to this man, he is telling it as it is…