“It’s a promoter trying to come in and take over the whole game. It’s something big. They’re trying to take over the whole boxing game,” Tim Bradley said of Zuffa on his channel.
Bradley said Zuffa’s appeal is clearly short-term. He pointed to scheduled dates, television reach, stronger promotion and improved resources for fighters. He also said services such as nutritional support, insurance and retirement planning would help many boxers who did not have that structure during their careers.
At the same time, Bradley said the trade-off could be less independence for fighters if one company gains too much influence over matchmaking, rankings and commercial deals.
“They want to be the manager, the promoter, the ranking committee. They want all control.” – Tim Bradley
Bradley added that he expects competition levels to increase if top names are regularly matched against each other, but he warned that purses across the sport could eventually decrease once talent is secured.
“The pay scale, it’s going to go down for sure,” Tim Bradley said
Zuffa Boxing has already become one of the sport’s main talking points after aggressive spending and early signings. Bradley’s view is that the project could improve some parts of boxing while changing the balance of power in others.
