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Zuffa Boxing plans up to 16 events in 2026 with global expansion

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Zuffa Boxing is planning 12 to 16 events in 2026, including international fight cards and up to four marquee superfights per year, according to TKO Group Holdings CEO Mark Shapiro during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings announcement on Tuesday.

The promotion, which launched in January 2026 as a joint venture between TKO and Saudi Arabia’s Sela, has already secured a media rights deal with Paramount+ covering the United States, Canada and Latin America, with additional territories currently in negotiations.

“We are encouraged by our initial progress in 2025 in signing a media rights deal with Paramount Plus in the United States, Canada and Latin America,” Shapiro said. “We are signing a robust portfolio of boxers to our roster and are already planning a 2026 fight card calendar that will take us outside the United States.”

He added: “All I can say is: be careful. Our goal is to build this into a behemoth.”

Super Fights and the Sela Partnership

In addition to Zuffa Boxing’s regular calendar of events, Shapiro said the organization will host two to four superfights per year in partnership with Sela. The first confirmed event under this structure will be Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov, which will take place on April 11 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, with Zuffa Boxing and Sela listed as co-hosts, and will be broadcast on Netflix.

Shapiro also addressed the Conor Benn transfer that made headlines this month, explaining that it is a one-fight deal financed by Sela – not directly by Zuffa Boxing – under the same structure as last year’s Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford event. He dismissed criticism from Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, claiming he was “stirring the pot in a fictional way” and said the story “took on a life of its own”.

“It’s only one fight!” Shapiro said.

The superfight model is designed to build competition and showcase Zuffa Boxing fighters against the backdrop of larger events, expanding the profile of the promotion’s lineup while Sela absorbs the costs of the main fights.

How the venture works

Shapiro presented the financial structure of the joint venture in exceptional detail. Sela finances all operations, while TKO has no obligation to finance. TKO charges an annual management fee of $10 million to run the promotion, as well as an additional $10 million service fee for each superfight event and commissions from media rights deals negotiated on behalf of the venture.

TKO acquired a 25% stake in Zuffa Boxing in 2025 and expects to achieve a roughly 50/50 ownership stake in the company within a few years, hitting performance milestones that Shapiro says are already within reach.

“The way we have structured the joint venture with our partners in Saudi Arabia, specifically Sela, is that they are financing it,” Shapiro said. “We have no obligation to finance. We intend to build goodwill.”

Zuffa Boxing is treated as an equity method investment in TKO’s financial statements, which means its revenues and losses are not consolidated in TKO’s main figures. This project is included in the “Corporations and other” segment of TKO, next to PBR and general administrative expenses.

The bigger picture

TKO reported full-year 2025 revenues of $4.735 billion across its portfolio, which includes UFC, WWE, PBR and IMG. Business 2026 guidance projects revenues of $5.675 billion to $5.775 billiondriven primarily by fresh media rights deals for the UFC and WWE with Paramount and Disney.

Shapiro positioned Zuffa Boxing as an additional growth channel with the same revenue streams that TKO has built around its other properties – media rights, consumer licensing, ticket sales, site fees and global partnerships. Integration with UFC, WWE and PBR also gives TKO an advantage in negotiations with broadcast and streaming partners.

For a promotion that’s only been around for a month, the infrastructure is growing rapidly. The deal with Paramount+ has been struck, international territories are on the cards, the London superfight is booked for April and the 2026 calendar is full. Whether Zuffa Boxing can produce results on the scale described by Shapiro will depend on how quickly it can build a roster deep enough to accommodate more than a dozen fighters a year – but TKO has made clear that it intends to treat boxing with the same operational machinery it has built around mixed martial arts.

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Boxing

World champion will be stripped of his title if he refuses to fight David Benavidez next: ‘That’s it’

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World champion to be stripped of title if he refuses to face David Benavidez next: “That’s it”

David Benavidez won the WBA and WBO cruiserweight world titles with his last fight, and the “Mexican Monster” may add to his collection in the future after one of the world champions was ordered to fight him under the threat of being stripped of his belt.

Last month I moved up from light heavyweight and dethroned Gilberto Ramirez in sensational styleBenavidez now holds the WBA (regular) and WBC featherlight heavyweight world titles, as well as his recently won unified cruiserweight crown.

As a result, the 29-year-old must decide whether he should return to the featherlight heavyweight scene or stay in the cruiserweight division, where he put in arguably the best performance of his career last time out after tuning out his fight with Jai Opetaia.

However, Benavidez was also named the WBC cruiserweight mandatory challenger and was ordered to fight WBC cruiserweight champion Noel Mikaelian, another who has been linked to a fight with Opetaia.

If Mikaelian refuses to defend the title against Benavidez, the WBC president announced in an interview for the WBC magazine that he would strip the Armenian of the belt. Boxing Scene.

“The WBC order is Mikaelian against Benavidez. That’s all. If he fights again, he will waive his obligations to the WBC.”

“[There is no deadline] at this time. I will be talking to different managers. This is the highest priority. I look forward to making sure that happens.”

If Mikaeilian decides to continue the fight with Opetaia and thus lose the world title, it can be expected that Polish-born interim champion Michał Cieślak will benefit. Either he will be elevated to full world champion and ordered to make his first defense against Benavidez, or he will be included in a vacant belt fight against the three-division world champion.

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Peter Fury claims Tyson used the wrong tactics against Usyk

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Image: Tyson Fury's Social Media Post Keeps the Joshua Fight Fantasy Alive in the UK

“Well, he has his team there and I’m not criticizing anyone, but in both fights his tactics weren’t good,” Peter said in an interview with Sport Boxing.

“It worked out badly because look, if we have a little guy here who can throw, let’s say, a welterweight who can throw a thousand punches, and we have a heavyweight, will a heavyweight fighter throw a thousand punches with him? No.”

“Or maybe he’ll step in and take one good shot? Absolutely.”

“So basically yes, the strategy was just wrong. It doesn’t mean Usyk was better than him. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t say anything. You misunderstand the tactics and they are wrong.

“And you know, when you look at Usyk’s structure and what he does, when he distances himself and tries to box an elite boxer who is lighter than you and who is giving away pounds, he will ping you all over the shop. That should be noticed,” Peter Fury said.

Tyson Fury announced his return earlier this year and is expected to have a preparatory fight before the start of his scheduled series with Anthony Joshua. Queensbury promoter Frank Warren recently confirmed that Fury’s next opponent could be announced in the coming days, with the long-awaited fight against Joshua expected to take place later this year.

Usyk remains at the top of the heavyweight division and has been ordered to fight WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel. Warren also confirmed that negotiations for the fight are ongoing.

Fury’s third meeting with Usyk has not been announced. Peter Fury, however, remains convinced that the strategy used in the first two fights determined the result.

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The politician’s perfect 12-0 KO record remains the strangest in boxing

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Jorge Kahwagi poses at a WBC weigh-in during his controversial 12-0 professional boxing career

Jorge Kahwagi achieved something almost impossible in professional boxing. The Mexican politician retired with a perfect record of 12-0, knocked out every opponent he faced, and finished his entire career in just 15 rounds.

On paper, this looks like one of the most devastating runs the sport has ever seen. In fact, many boxing fans wondered if they even believed it.

Perfect record

Kahwagi turned professional in 2001, despite having no boxing experience. Over the next fourteen years, he set an undefeated record, won regional titles, and never once heard the final bell.

Twelve fights brought twelve victories. All twelve victories were by knockout in just fifteen rounds.

The numbers are tough to understand even now.

Several of Kahwagi’s opponents entered the ring in defeat. Others seemed hopelessly outmatched.

But the record continued to grow as the politician and businessman rose through the cruiserweight ranks without ever being seriously tested.

By the time he retired in 2015 after returning from a ten-year hiatus for one final fight, Kahwagi owned one of boxing’s most remarkable undefeated records.

Why fans never bought it

The controversy surrounding Kahwaga was not in itself. This is how some of these victories turned out.

His last fight against Ramon Olivas remains the fight most frequently mentioned in discussions about Kahwagi’s career. The break came after seemingly minimal contact, prompting criticism from fans and observers.

Doubts have already surrounded previous victories, including the victory over veteran Roberto Coelho.

Whether these doubts were justified or not, the damage was done and many fans never accepted Kahwagi’s record at face value.

WBC

Boxing has seen this before

Kahwagi’s record may be extraordinary, but in boxing there is always controversy when it comes to results.

As WBN reports, while John Riel Casimero faces a fight-fixing investigation in 2025, debates continue to arise in the contemporary era about what happens inside the ropes.

Long before that, Roy Jones Jr. denied winning Olympic gold in Seoul despite dominating Park Si-hun in what many still consider the greatest heist in boxing history.

More than thirty years later, Park returned the medal to Jones.

The Kahwagi case falls into a different category, but the result is often the same. Once fans stop believing what they’re watching, the debate never really stops.

Still one of the strangest

Few fighters retire with a perfect record, and even fewer retire after every knockout victory.

Kahwagi handled both, finishing his entire professional career in just 15 innings, and those numbers remain remarkable.

More than a decade after his retirement, the debate surrounding his record has never really died down.

That’s why Jorge Kahwagi’s perfect 12-0 record remains one of the strangest in boxing history.


About the author

Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.

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