Lou DiBella does not believe Saudi Arabia is preparing to walk away from boxing, even as questions mount about the long-term outlook for LIV Golf and other Saudi-funded sports ventures.

Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, the longtime promoter and former HBO executive addressed the growing speculation that recent reports of belt-tightening around LIV could be a precursor to Saudi Arabia stepping back from its boxing investment, which has reshaped the sport over the past three years through Riyadh Season cards and the launch of Zuffa Boxing.

Helwani framed the question directly, noting that some in the industry are “hoping that the LIV thing is a precursor possibly to the Saudis pulling out of boxing.” DiBella’s answer was unequivocal.

“No, I don’t necessarily believe that,” DiBella said. “First of all, I don’t think that TKO and the lawyers and smart people around them, considering how they handled brilliantly the whole play with the Ali Act, I believe they have their money secured. They do not need Turki to survive.”

“Money in the Bank”

DiBella’s argument rests on the structure of the deal between TKO Group Holdings and Sela, the Saudi entertainment entity backed by Turki Alalshikh’s General Entertainment Authority. He suggested the initial Saudi investment is already locked in regardless of what happens to other sports projects funded out of Riyadh.

“I guarantee you, whatever the Saudi funds investment was, is, I would bet, in the bank to chase their initial seed money,” DiBella told Helwani. “Now if after that seed money runs out, the Saudis would make a decision that they were leaving boxing to some degree, wouldn’t it almost be a great result for TKO? You got your seed money, you know you’ve got a big bag to pay your initial expenses and start you off in this thing. Your partner’s gonna walk away? I don’t think that’s gonna happen so quick.”

DiBella also pushed back on the idea that Alalshikh himself, separate from any state-backed fund, would lose interest. “Turki is wealthy personally,” DiBella said. “The fact of the matter is that he might even be able to bring more of the investment, just do it himself to some degree.”

The American Media Connection

Helwani pressed further, asking whether Alalshikh might double down with TKO and walk away from his existing relationships with Eddie Hearn at Matchroom and Frank Warren at Queensberry, both of whom have run major events under the Riyadh Season banner. DiBella reframed the question around the broader corporate map.

“You gotta take one step further,” DiBella said. “The Saudis, Qatar, UAE, they’re so invested in American media right now. The Ellison family and Paramount, the people that TKO deals with. The company is 45 percent owned by foreign money, and the foreign money’s Arab. It’s Saudi money, Qatari, UAE money. Pieces sort of are connected. It’s all intertwined.”

That description aligns with the publicly disclosed ownership structure of Paramount Skydance, the entity that holds the Paramount+ rights to Zuffa Boxing’s twelve scheduled events in 2026. The Ellison family and a consortium of investors that includes Gulf-state capital closed on the merger earlier this year.

A Note on the Saudi Entities

Much of the conflation in U.S. sports media treats “Saudi money” as a single bloc. It is not. The Public Investment Fund is the sovereign wealth fund that bankrolled LIV Golf and is now reportedly winding down that commitment. The General Entertainment Authority, chaired by Alalshikh, is a separate government body that funds Riyadh Season. Sela, the entity formally partnered with TKO inside Zuffa Boxing, is a PIF subsidiary. Turki Alalshikh and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan have been described in multiple reports as rivals for influence inside the Saudi government, and the GEA’s spending on international sports has also been scaled back, separately from the PIF’s retreat from LIV. The silos overlap inside boxing through Sela, but they are not the same checkbook.

Boots Fight Unaffected

The conversation turned to whether any near-term reduction in Saudi boxing spending would touch the next high-profile fight on the calendar, Jaron “Boots” Ennis vs. Xander Zayas, scheduled for June 27 at Barclays Center on DAZN pay-per-view. DiBella said it would not.

“Even if it did, I don’t think it would kill this Boots fight coming up,” DiBella said. “People thought that was going to happen. There’s no involvement.”

Helwani agreed, noting that the Ennis-Zayas card is a Top Rank and Matchroom co-promotion on DAZN with no Riyadh Season involvement, and that the Ennis fight had previously been targeted for Vergil Ortiz Jr. before that bout collapsed amid the Ortiz-Golden Boy litigation. DiBella pointed to the broader pattern.

“If you’re reading stuff, they may have, to a degree, dialed down how much money Saudis are spending recently,” he said. “They haven’t abandoned, clearly, but there clearly been a dial down in what they’re spending. That may explain why they’re not attached to these particular fights.”

The full DiBella appearance is available on Ariel Helwani’s channels.