Shakur Stevenson was supposed to be the man who got in early. When he signed his landmark deal with Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing in late July, he and James Prince thought they had beaten everybody to the future of the sport. Three months later, Fannon Boxing says that future is falling apart around him, and the contract that was supposed to make Shakur bigger may end up making him an afterthought.
The first problem is the money behind the whole plan. The idea was to shift the Saudi money from DAZN over to Zuffa, with Turki Alalshikh’s backing funding the biggest fights. Fannon says that money is pulling back, with the war in Saudi Arabia squeezing the funding that made the model work. If the Saudis don’t have the money, Zuffa doesn’t have the money, and Shakur’s contract is worth a fraction of what was promised.
Netflix Was the Real Prize, and It May Be Gone
The second problem is even bigger. Shakur didn’t sign with Zuffa to fight on Friday night and Sunday night Zuffa cards. He signed because the biggest fights in boxing were headed to Netflix. Anthony Joshua vs. Tyson Fury was set for the platform, Netflix had sunk money into an Anthony Joshua biography, and Fury had a reality show and a fight there. But Fannon reports that Netflix has fired its CEO, brought in a new one, and is now looking hard at whether live sporting events actually make money. When new bosses come in, the old regime’s pet projects are usually the first things to die, and Fannon says the days of Netflix burning money on boxing are over.
Six Months, No Date, No Big Fight
Meanwhile, the clock is eating Shakur alive. He signed in July and still has no fight date, with January being targeted. Run it out and he will have sat for roughly a year by the time he finally gets in a ring. Fannon contrasts that with another Zuffa signee who signed in December and was fighting by February, about a 30-day turnaround. Worse, none of the fights Shakur actually wanted have moved an inch. The Gervonta Davis fight has made no progress, and the Devin Haney fight fell apart. There is nobody left on the board he would call a big fight.
Everybody Else Can Leave. Shakur Can’t.
Here is the part that stings. Dana White never signed Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Canelo Alvarez or Terence Crawford. If those stars want to fight on DAZN or anywhere else, they can. Shakur Stevenson is the only one locked in, and Fannon does not believe Dana will let him out of the deal. As for James Prince, Fannon gives him credit for getting Shakur a lot of money up front, but calls the move a bad one in the long run. Shakur should have waited until other fighters proved the model and the financials were solid. Instead he jumped first, and now he is stuck holding a contract whose value drains by the month.
Video: Fannon International Boxing Channel on YouTube
