By: Sean Crose
Zuffa Boxing, the brainchild of the UFC’s Dana White and Saudi Arabia’s, Turki Alalshikh, debuted Friday night on Paramount Plus streaming as a live card of boxing was broadcast from the Meta Apex in California. For those who didn’t think that the ambitious White could draw attention to his newfound passion, one look at Twitter trends Friday evening erased all doubt. People were clearly paying attention. White and Alalshikh are looking to change the fight game. The only question now is whether or not they will achieve their goal. Friday’s card proved the first step towards learning the answer to that question.
What makes the public so curious about Zuffa is the fact that Dana White has proven so wildly successful with the UFC. People want to know if he can hype boxing the way he has the mixed martial arts league. White is a born showman in some ways and is also from a boxing background. It’s little wonder that he sees potential in the sweet science and possess the confidence to think he can bring it to better places… whether the powers that be the in the sport like it or not.
As for Alalshikh, the man has already proven to be a game changer in regards to the sport of boxing. Who else it could turn Saudi Arabia into a hotbed of contemporary boxing? Yet, boxing is a tough sport and people aren’t yet sold on the Saudi sports honcho. Like White, his success is far from guaranteed. One way for White and Alalshikh to give themselves a chance however is to keep presenting fans with fights they want to see. Needless to say, Friday’s card presented an interesting main event. Undefeated middleweight Callum Walsh aimed to look good as he battled Carlos Ocampo in a scheduled 10 round affair.
Suffice to say Walsh won himself a unanimous decision victory. The win was frankly no great surprise, but this was not a major fight. Again, Zuffa will need plenty of those if it works wants to succeed at the highest level. Boxing fans have now spent at least a decade not getting the fights they want or at least not getting them in a same amount of time. If Zuffa can deliver, it will be good for the sport.. at least in that regard. Other matters might not be so positive. Such mysteries however will be solved in time, perhaps even sooner than some may think.
