Photo: John Rivera, Getty Images
And away they go…
The Zuffa Boxing debut fight card on Paramount+ arrives Friday night at the UFC headquarters’ Apex facility with bouts headlined by unbeaten junior middleweight Callum Walsh and a few others who formerly fought for Zuffa executive Tom Loeffler’s 360 Promotions.
On Monday’s episode of ProBox TV’s “BoxingScene Today,” analysts and former world titleholders Paulie Malignaggi and Chris Algieri assessed the progression of the new circuit presided over by UFC CEO/President Dana White and funded by Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh.
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After officially opening for business by staging September’s Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford event at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, Zuffa now unveils the stable of fights that will function amid the company’s push to alter/delete federal boxer regulations, and to avoid working with the four sanctioning bodies by awarding its own belts and ranking its fighters.
“They made all these headlines [and] brought all [this attention] upon yourself with expectations constantly,” Malignaggi said. “You wanted to do cartwheels into the room. Well, now you’re under the microscope.”
Malignaggi was speaking to the fact that Ireland’s unbeaten Walsh, 15-0 (11 KOs) – who’s left trainer Freddie Roach for trainer Julian Chua at the Brickhouse Boxing Club – is coming off a lackluster showing in the co-feature of the Canelo-Crawford card versus Fernando Vargas Jnr. The other fighters on Zuffa Boxing’s premiere include unbeaten middleweight Misael Rodriguez, entertaining welterweight Cain Sandoval and ranked featherweight Omar Trinidad.
“I’m looking at this as if Zuffa is very smart, coming in like a lamb and going out like a lion,” Algieri said. “They’re going to build. We’re sitting with baited breath waiting on this great change … this is a long play, dude.”
Zuffa operates under the same TKO combat sports empire as the UFC and WWE. Algieri said Zuffa doesn’t need to start out with all of its chips on the table like other starting boxing promoters seeking to make a big splash before crashing out.
“We’ve seen that. This is an opposite play. I know they know what they’re doing,” he said.
Malignaggi maintained skepticism, asking, “A slow play to what? A Zuffa belt?”
The doubts over grabbing immediate attention with Friday’s card cling to Walsh, who has long been backed by White as a lynchpin to the promoter’s boxing entry.
When host Jimmy Smith opined that “stars don’t sneak up on you,” implying Walsh is better described as “serviceable” than “star,” Malignaggi said, “He’s a solid young fighter. A future star? Not sure. You did him a disservice bypassing the [fight of the year candidate pitting] Christian Mbilli-Lester Martinez fight [as co-feature], and then Callum laid an egg. Is he going to grow into this world-class potential? I don’t see it yet.”
Algieri agreed, “The verdict is still out,” and said he didn’t like how Walsh and Vargas appeared to fight with “a silent agreement,” as “a dangerous guy turned cautious … superstars don’t do that.
“This next one [Friday] could be a disservice, too.”
Walsh’s opponent, Mexico’s Carlos Ocampo, 38-3 (26 KOs), has suffered notable first-round knockouts to Errol Spence Jnr (in 2018) and Tim Tszyu (2023).
“If [Walsh] doesn’t do that, he’s got big problems,” Algieri said.
Zuffa preceded the card by announcing over the weekend that it’s signed IBF and lineal cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, who spoke of unifying the division in what seems to be an effort conflicting with the promoter’s disinterest with working with sanctioning bodies and rival promoters. David Benavidez and Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, who are expected to fight in May for Ramirez’s two world titles, are promoted by Premier Boxing Champions and Golden Boy Promotions, respectively.
While in Australia last week, Malignaggi said he spoke to boxing insiders who told him Opetaia was “just a happy-go-lucky guy” being underpaid for title fights before moving to Zuffa.
“Once I found out what I found out, I thought, ‘Of course they signed him … he was an easy one to pick up,’” Malignaggi said.
Algieri said if Zuffa turns Opetaia away from cruiserweight unification, “what are you doing?” Algieri added, “If Opetaia goes to heavyweight and is not fighting for titles, who cares?”
It led Algieri to conclude Zuffa will likely play ball with outsiders at the beginning.
“There’s too many players in boxing – too big and too established,” he said.
How Zuffa presents itself on Paramount+ inside a small venue will also be telling.
Will it work to make UFC fans into boxing fans?
“It’s a tightrope,” Algieri said after Smith called the sports oil and water.
“Zuffa starts at the bottom of the big promoters; the talent level is very shallow,” Malignaggi said. “Big presence means big pressure.”