Conor Benn signs for Zuffa

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If Zuffa actually want a heavyweight division worth the name, they should make an offer for Queensberry. So far their HW roster is junk and resembles PBC in the Wilder years, minus Wilder.

 

Game Changed

 

I genuinely believe that was exactly what Bricktop and Fast Car were hoping, that Turki was some gullible mug who’d massively overpay for both Matchroom and Queensbury, just remember Hearn’s £1.5 billion valuation. Instead, what Benn showed is he doesn’t even need to buy the whole shop – he can just asset strip them and take the fighters and value he actually wants.

 

Thing is, fighters come and go; unless Zuffa has a proper talent system then they'd be leaning on local promoters to bring people through. That's more likely to be the Warrens (and even the likes of McGuigan, Mick, etc) than Matchroom. Feels like they should at least keep some sort of affiliation going. Matchroom are the only ones claiming to compete with Zuffa.

 

Look at the history over the past 40 years where Frank Warren has created several great boxers through perfect matchmaking.

Naseem Hamed recently stated that Frank Warren is the best boxing promoter in the country in terms of building a boxer's career and I agree with him.

 

Yeah, I think you’re spot on, Zuffa need a feeder system and, as a quick fix, Warren and Queensbury are where the real value sits, especially with the heavyweight division and a belt already tied down. Makes you wonder what the asset carrying value even is, especially if Itauma is on a long-term deal, because he alone could be anywhere from £15m to £150m+ depending on whether you see him as a franchise star, or not.

 

I wonder if Zuffa Boxing wants to use Otto Wallin as an opponent ?

 

Every time you post something I read way too much into it, like there's a hidden cryptic clue lol. I'm like "what does he mean? Is Wallin being signed as an opponent for someone they've just signed?...Is it Itauma? Oh my! They've signed Itauma!!"

 

I am honestly still none the wiser what this zuffa thing is or isn’t, has anyone seen a definitive plan laid out of what they are trying to achieve?
Do zuffa fighters only fight each other? If not do they only use opponents from promoters they get along with?
I’ve seen the signings so far but I can’t for the life of me think who or how they are going to provide meaningful fights for some of them

The benn signing was probably more a PR stunt aswell as a way to rattle Eddie rather than rating Benn as a world beater, ironically similar to how matchroom signing Ben Whittaker was more a case of pulling a trick on shalom

 

I agree that it will take time.

If Zuffa are serious about taking over boxing (which I am assuming will be similar to UFC and having the top 10-15 guys in each division on their roster), it won't happen overnight. There will be fighters they want that they can't sign due to them being under contract. Other fighters may not want to sign just yet as it's early days, so they may wait it out a bit with a traditional promoter to see how things play out with Zuffa.

Another problem will be fighters coming to the end of their contracts with their current promoter and refusing to sign an extension, so their promoter freezes them out.

Personally, I'm very interested to see how things work out with Zuffa. Boxing is in a shocking state, and has been for a long time. The sport needs to change or it will carry on on its current trajectory of becoming even more niche until the day it becomes irrelevant.

Will Zuffa succeed in their lofty ambitions? Probably not. It's a tall order. But, if they do, then great. I'd love better matchmaking and one belt per division. If they don't succeed, it still may give the other promoters the kick up the arse they desperately need to improve their game.