According to Reuters, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is planning to reshape the sport of boxing by introducing an boxing league or tournament in the same vein as that of other major professional sports. While the exact details surrounding the composition of this league remain scarce, the current plans seem to be actively negotiated by several parties, including Turki Alalshikh, head of General Entertainment Authority (GEA).
Approximately two months ago, Turki Alalshikh had hinted about this possible change when he had asserted he was aiming to “revolutionize” the sport. While the GEA chairman had not been too forthcoming with the exact strategies in place, Reuters’ recent report now seemingly confirms a boxing league or tournament of sorts is in the making.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund appears to be coordinating these efforts and are reportedly in contact with multiple entities in boxing to form a league―with the purported deal being negotiated set to value such a league at $4 billion to $5 billion. The PIF is best known for having helped establish the golf-based competition of LIV Golf.
In other professional sports, tournaments and leagues are the main format used to create a competitive environment where the best teams or individual sports players are determined by merit. Professional boxing however, is one of the few remaining sports to remain unorganized in such a manner, with “prizefighting” at the front and center of the sport which allows fighters or promotions to dictate who is fought.
In comparison, amateur boxing is known to be much more familiar with the concepts of leagues and tournaments, with most of the top-rated professional boxers today having distinguished themselves as talented prospects by participating in competitions like the Summer Olympics, and national boxing tournaments such as the United States’ Golden Gloves.
Though the creation of the sanctioning bodies has helped boxing to retain competitiveness by introducing ranking/rating boards and a variety of titles that can be won, the structure within boxing itself is based on a variety of factors aside from a fighter’s ranking position or status as champion; making for an arguably unorganized habitat that has been dominated by promotional outfits who have managed to become key stakeholders within the sport.
Interestingly enough, the position of the promoters does not seem to be in peril with Reuters’ report suggesting that both Matchroom Boxing and Golden Boy Promotions have been in talks with Saudi Arabia’s PIF who are taking center stage in this endeavor. What the exact role of these promotions would be is still unknown, but it is likely they have been approached due to their stable of fighters; which would force the proposed league to negotiate with the promotions’ fighters.
Turki Alalshikh was also pinpointed to have been active in these discussions, though it is not yet known what his exact role is when it comes to the negotiations, and his purported role within this boxing league.
With the negotiations for these changes very much still steeped in secrecy, it is also unclear whether there this change will see boxing adopt a league, a tournament or both. While the two concepts are often used interchangeably, leagues are often attributed to competitions held over a certain period where athletes or sports teams compete against their peers with points being accumulated depending on the results of matches. In this scenario, the winner of this league will usually be the team or athlete that has garnered the most points.
Tournaments employ a different structure, typically involving knockout or elimination tournaments where teams or athletes compete over a set of rounds until the final is reached. A “final series’, including a quarter- and a semi-final, will usually precede the final match.
In most sports, both concepts are used as can be seen with competitions such as the National Basketball Association (NBA) which first requires teams to participate in 82 games from October to April in what is called the “regular season”. Half of all the 32 teams are sorted in two different conferences―called the West and East conference―which sort the leagues according to regions within the United States, with the best 8 teams of each conference first battling each other in the playoffs; before the best teams of each conference meet each other in the NBA Finals.
Association Football, which virtually involves football teams all around the world, is also known to use both a league and tournament format. In particular, leagues based in Europe are the most prominent examples, with almost every country within the region using a hierarchical system of interconnected leagues where promotions and relegations occur. The league on top, for example the English Premier League, will then allow its best teams to compete in the European-centered Champions League; a tournament competition that pits the best of each league/country against each other to eventually sort out a winner in the finals.
The actual implementation of these concepts in boxing seems severely complicated due to the presence of promotions and sanctioning bodies, but there at least seem to be genuine attempts to create an organizational system that can benefit every stakeholder involved; including the fans.
The World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) was the last competition to have employed a tournament or league format where professional boxers competed in. Current undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KO’s) is perhaps the best-known contestant of this tournament, having competed in the inaugural 2017-2018 WBSS season involving the cruiserweight division which eventually saw Usyk become winning all four cruiserweight world titles to become the undisputed champion after defeating then-Russian [now of Armenian nationality] opponent Murat Gassiev (30-2, 23 KO’s) by unanimous decision (UD).
