TKO Boxing has officially received a promoter’s license in the state of Nevada, which clears the way for UFC CEO Dana White to promote the upcoming fight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.
On Wednesday, the Nevada Athletic Commission voted unanimously to approve TKO’s boxing license as well as the planned event for Canelo vs. Crawford at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sept. 13.
While mostly a formality for a powerhouse promotion like TKO, the commission is required to give approval to any promoter’s license in the state. UFC senior vice president of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner and TKO chief financial officer Andrew Schleimer both attended the meeting.
In addition to the Canelo vs. Crawford fight, this also officially launches the new TKO Boxing promotion expected to kick off in 2026 with plans to hold a lot of the events in Las Vegas.
“We’re going to bring a lot of fights here,” Ratner told the commission during the hearing. “We’re going to start our league next year.”
White had previously teased that the new promotion would be called Zuffa Boxing but it appears the promoter’s license is operating under the TKO Boxing label.
Backed by funding from Saudi Arabia, TKO Boxing is being headed up by executives like White under ownership from TKO Group Holdings, although the company isn’t footing the bill for any of the events. Instead, it’s the Saudi Arabia General Entertainment Fund headed up by Turki Alalshikh handling the financials behind the promotion with White and others effectively running the show itself.
It’s been a long time coming for White to get involved in boxing again after he’s repeatedly stated his plans to crossover into another combat sport after UFC and his own Power Slap league.
Canelo vs. Crawford is the first official event under the TKO Boxing banner with the full promotion expected to launch in 2026 with a full event schedule and the expectation that a new broadcast deal accompanies the launch of those cards.
“I would just tell you that we’re expecting with the boxing organization that we’re putting on an average of call it 12 fights a year, 12 cards a year for each of the next five years,” TKO president and chief operating officer Mark Shapiro said back in May. “Still putting that plan together and obviously working hand in hand with our friends from Saudi.
“Irrespective of those, we will look to do anywhere from one to four sort of superfights per year, we’ll see how that plays out. But obviously we would term the Canelo/Crawford September matchup as one of those. And then on that undercard, we would have a number of those undercard fights that would likely air on the television partner/media partner we would have for our newly formed boxing organizations.”
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