Bob Arum Calls Out TKO’s Boxing Pay Structure – ‘Dana Has His Hands Full’

Bob Arum has serious reservations about TKO Group Holdings Inc.’s decision to enter into the sport of boxing. 

Dana White recently announced that TKO would enter into boxing with the Saudis with a view to revamping the sport. The sport has often been criticized for not making the best fights due to competing networks, promoters and fighters wanting unrealistic pay demands. This has been combated somewhat by Turki Alalshikh’s recent entry into boxing. He has managed to put on some of the biggest fights. The Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk fight and Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol bouts were examples of that. Those fights earned the respective boxers generational wealth.

Pay Structure

However, that has also created a shift in the boxing landscape, with many fighters now wanting to secure a mega Saudi payday. The UFC has been praised for consistently putting on the best fights. However, one criticism it has faced is that it does not pay its fighters enough. The top boxers are paid significantly more than what a top UFC fighter would make.

Francis Ngannou demonstrated this when he faced Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury in two boxing fights. Reports indicated that he made $30 million combined for those two bouts, which was more than his entire UFC career. This is despite the fact that he was the former UFC Heavyweight Champion. TKO recently released its pay structure, which can be seen below, which is significantly less than what a top boxer would earn. 

$20,000 (unranked fighter)

$50,000 if ranked No. 5 to No. 10 

$125,000 if ranked No. 3 to No. 4

$375,000 for a championship bout

$750,000 for a title defense

Arum Reacts

While the venture will give up-and-coming fighters an opportunity to market themselves and build their brand, Arum felt that TKO would suffer some struggles as they may not be able to compete with what fighters may get elsewhere.

“They have a real problem because their big business is UFC and when the UFC kids see how little they get as against what boxers get, and if it comes from the same company, Dana has his hands full. They aren’t exorbitant fight purses but they’re so much more than the UFC people get, and how do you think they’ll feel? We have to take care of our own fighters.

“We have PBC that we do fights with…we never have any problem working with another company. [And] we have always done a lot of fights with Oscar and his company so I don’t see any problem there. That’s what [to takeover] everybody says when they come into boxing, they want to take it over. So, again, I’m an old man and I’ve been here for many, many years and hopefully I’ll be here for some more years and I don’t take those comments seriously,” Arum said 

Find all the latest boxing news and MMA breaking updates on boxingnews.com.