Dana White cut from Canelo-Crawford promotion?

UFC supremo seemingly cut from Canelo-Crawford promotion

TKO-Saudi-Boxing League (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

UFC supremo Dana White is no longer promoting the forthcoming mega fight between Terence Crawford and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

An announcement on The Ring’s website states that the event, now set for 13 September in the US, will be promoted by Saudi firm Sela and not TKO Boxing, as was originally announced two weeks ago.

Turki Alalshikh wrote on X: "We have confirmed the promoter for Canelo vs. Crawford will be Sela for Riyadh Season. The broadcaster we have not decided yet, but the date will be Saturday 13th September. More details soon."

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The principals behind the match between Crawford and Canelo have been shifting for some time. The fight had originally been planned for Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas but is now homeless (five spots are being considered in three cities) as there are football games planned that weekend in that venue.

Six days ago, Alalshikh said on Twitter that he would announce ‘at the right time’ when and where the fight would be held. Despite this, the kick-off press conference is due to be held in Riyadh within the next few weeks.

Now, it seems that TKO Boxing, which was formed when the UFC and the WWE merged last year, has lost a flagship show.

The Jeddah-based Sela organises sports and hospitality events within Saudia Arabia. It is owned by the government-funded Public Investment Fund. Back in March, the firm announced that it was working in a multi-year partnership with both Alalshikh and TKO Boxing.

According to its own website, Sela has played a ‘pivotal role’ in Crawford-Madrimov in Los Angeles and Joshua-Dubois in London. It is also the lead sponsor of Newcastle United.

The usually verbose White has remained silent on his apparent ousting from the Crawford-Canelo fight promotion. At the time of writing, the last posts on his Instagram and Twitter accounts were from two days ago. Likewise, his latest Facebook post is from yesterday and was merely an update of his cover photo to promote UFC Fight Night: Blanchfield vs Barber at the end of the month.

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