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MAGNO'S BULGING MAIL SACK: DANA WHITE, PBC, DEVIN HANEY

By Paul Magno | October 03, 2024
MAGNO'S BULGING MAIL SACK: DANA WHITE, PBC, DEVIN HANEY

This Thursday, like every Thursday, I ask you to pull up a seat alongside my bulging, bulbous sack and watch me shoot a load of gooey, salty truth right into the faces of boxing’s purveyors of ignorance. This week, we have questions/comments regarding Dana White in boxing, PBC, and Devin Haney.

Dana White in Boxing?

Hi Paul.

Thanks for your continued great work.

What are your thoughts on Dana White's latest mention of an incursion into pro boxing.  Is this time for real?

With support from Turki and the Saudi's, a discussed fighter league (similar to the UFC model), an interest in fighters like Callum Walsh and streaming tools like UFC Fight Pass White seems to have some pieces in place to move forward.   

Or is this just more hot air?

Take care.

– John

Hey John.

Thanks.

In the eyes of Turki Alalshikh, Dana White’s biggest asset is Dana White, himself. I think the pseudo tough guy image and the bullying over his fighters, keeping them in their place, is what appeals to a guy like Alalshikh. If the Saudis are to go ahead with their plan and wrangle a bunch of unruly boxing people into a binding, no-escape league, they’ll need a strongman-- a strongman who’s a bit of an outsider, who doesn’t have any horses in the race, and whose only loyalty is to the bosses. That’s White. The streaming platform and White’s marginal interest in a small handful of boxers is not that important. The Saudis could easily put together all the tools and incidentals and I think Alalshikh has already expressed his interest in making DAZN the broadcast platform for his plans. But White’s dictatorial, labor-busting reputation, along with his high profile, is what makes him an ideal front man for the Saudi boxing efforts. 

PBC, Not Ready for Prime Time?

Hi Magno.

I know I’m not the only one who’s pointing out that PBC’s run on Amazon Prime has been total trash. I’m not a PBC hater, I’m just a boxing fan of 40 years who wants the best fights and wants them made available to me at a fair price. I don’t care at all about who’s producing the shows. PBC has been awful and this Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach fight announced is garbage. So far in their Amazon Prime deal, they haven’t put on one fight I’d pay to see and they obviously don’t plan on putting out anything worth the money in the immediate future either. I might be okay with their shows if they weren’t all PPVs, but putting all that junk on PPV is insulting. It does make my decision not to watch easier, though.  

What’s your opinion of PBC on Amazon Prime so far and do you see it getting any better?

– Dennis from Dallas

Hi Dennis.

PBC on Prime hasn’t been very good. Yeah, there have been some good fights on the four cards PBC has done so far and we’re finally going to get a “free” card on October 19 when Tim Tszyu fights for Bakhram Murtazaliev’s IBF junior middleweight title. There’s also been some star power on display as Canelo has fought twice and there was a Gervonta Davis/David Benavidez double feature. But, as a whole, the product has been subpar, especially for a pay-per-view product. 

There appears to be some organizational issues inside the company with, reportedly, Al Haymon being out of the picture for a bit tending to personal issues. In the time between Showtime Boxing shutting down and the Prime deal kicking off, there was a lot of uncertainty and they got their asses kicked in the area of public relations, as online rumor mongers and weirdo anti-PBC culture warriors had their way with the company’s reputation. For whatever reason, PBC execs refused to fire back against the strategically planted stories of their demise. And although the critics have had them dying since before they even began in 2015, this time, in between broadcast deals, the stories seemed to carry some degree of legitimacy. Seeing inactive PBC fighters sign deals with non-PBC promoters and fight on other, non-PBC, cards made the “they’re dying” buzz much more credible. 

When the Prime shows officially began, they seemed empty, like one-shot specials in a world not meant for them and almost buried inside the massive Amazon Prime universe. Maybe having more shows-- more FREE shows-- will change that feeling and make it seem more like PBC exists inside the boxing world again. Right now, though, it doesn’t fee that way. The telecasts have been technically awesome and some of the fights have been very good, but there’s something missing there. 

It all starts and stops with the matchmaking, though. Putting on good main events worth the fans’ time and money is the cure-all. Right now, we’re not getting that and Tank Davis-Lamont Roach is a prime example (no pun intended). 

I really don’t know if I see things getting any better. They need more shows and they need to go back to building their own fighters on those shows. As of right now, I don’t see anything from them other than leaked rumors to select media of big, positive things happening in the future. 

Is Devin Haney Done?

Hi Paul.

From the outside looking in, Devin Haney’s lawsuit against Ryan Garcia looks like a desperate move to fill up his bank account and an admission that Haney is looking to cash out. That’s how I see it anyway. Will Haney be able to come back from that Ryan Garcia mess or is he psychologically done?

--Luis

Hey Luis. 

I’ve gotten a few variations of this question since the Haney-Garcia fight and I’ve talked about it before, but I think it’s going to be very hard for Haney to really and truly come back from this fight. He was pretty much publicly depantsed by a guy who didn’t take the fight seriously, looked sloppy as fuck in spots, and who almost everyone (including Devin and his team) assumed would be dominated. Forget that the result was reversed, that was a humiliating outing and there will be significant mental scarring from this. Haney was riding high coming into the Garcia fight and he got brought down to earth hard. That was beyond humbling and it’s going to take some careful rebuilding to get over what happened that night. Physically, Haney will be fine for a comeback, but the real damage was inside the kid’s head. The lawsuit may be a way to try and pad his bank account, but I think it’s more an effort to further get that “Garcia cheated, that’s why he beat me up” narrative flowing inside Devin’s head so he can get his mind right for a comeback.

Got a question (or hate mail) for Magno’s Bulging Mail Sack? The best of the best gets included in the weekly mailbag segment right here at FightHype. Send your stuff here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com.

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