Boxing insider weighs in on fears that Dana White & Turki Alalshikh’s TKO league will dominate the sport

Dana White has finally entered the world of boxing. The UFC kingpin has long been the biggest promoter in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA), growing the Ultimate Fighting Championship into the best combat sports promotion worldwide. TKO, created by the owners of UFC and WWE, has organized a new boxing promotion that could replicate the UFC model.

White's grand entrance into the 'sweet science' was accompanied by another man who only recently ventured into boxing, Turki Alalshikh. Together the pair will head-up the newlycreated TKO boxing league, with an official name for the promotion yet to be confirmed.

Given Alalshikh's recent comments that he would look to "crush" the other promotions in boxing, there are concerns that the TKO boxing venture could take over the sport in a similar way to that of the UFC in MMA.

But according to boxing insider and journalist Dan Rafael, those concerns are not justifiable, yet.

He was recently interviewed by iFL TV, where he discussed White's presence in the boxing world, saying:

"As I said to Dana, you don't have a name of your company. You don't have a broadcast partner just yet... They don't have a single boxer under contract. All you've done is make an announcement. People perked up and were like, 'Oh, this is important,' because of the people involved... But, as [Dana] said, 'We know we're kind of putting the cart before the horse because we've got a lot of s**t to do.'"

He added:

"His point was, 'I can't even tell you the number of events we want to do in a year, because we're gonna have to tailor that to the needs of whatever media partner we end going with.' Everybody's got to take a deep breath."

Catch Dan Rafael breakdown of Dana White's boxing venture below (13:48):

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Eddie Hearn disagrees with Dana White's boxing comments

Dana White has labeled the sport of boxing as "broken," and the UFC CEO intends on fixing that. However, leading boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has disagreed with White's statement.

Hearn has been the sport's biggest promoter over the past few years, and following Turki Alalshikh's recent boxing deal with TKO, the Matchroom Boxing chairman has been asked for his thoughts.

Hearn was recently interviewed by iFL TV and said:

"I do disagree with Dana and [Turki Alalshikh], when you say, 'Boxing's broken.' Boxing ain't broken. Boxing's hotter than ever. And it was hot before [Alalshikh] came in, but now it's got a lot hotter."

Catch Eddie Hearn discuss Dana White's comments below (8:50):