Professional boxing has never had more promoters.
Matchroom. Queensberry. BOXXER. Golden Boy. Top Rank. Zuffa Boxing. There are promotional companies popping up all over the world, all competing for the biggest names, the biggest events and the biggest slice of boxing’s ever-growing financial pie.
Competition isn’t a bad thing.
In fact, it’s essential.
If promoters are competing to sign the best fighters, put on the biggest cards and give fans the fights they want to see, everybody wins.
But here’s the question I’ve found myself asking recently.
Should anyone be able to become a boxing promoter, or should they have to earn that right?
Is It Too Easy to Become a Boxing Promoter?
This isn’t a dig at any one promoter.
It’s much bigger than that.
The sport has reached a point where promoters have almost as much influence as the fighters themselves. They negotiate television deals, shape careers, decide which prospects get opportunities and often determine whether the biggest fights happen at all.
That’s an incredible amount of power.
So why isn’t there a higher bar to becoming one?
If I suddenly found someone willing to back me financially, what’s to stop me trying to become a boxing promoter?
The answer is… not a great deal.
That doesn’t mean I’d be any good at it.
It doesn’t mean I’d know how to develop young talent.
It doesn’t mean I’d understand the long-term health of the sport.
It simply means I’d have the resources to have a go.
When you think about it like that, it feels slightly bizarre.
Boxing Promoters Shape the Entire Sport
People often think promoters simply organise fight nights.
They don’t.
A good promoter can build a fighter from small hall shows to world title fights.
A bad promoter can stall careers, create unnecessary political obstacles or prioritise business over boxing.
Their decisions affect rankings, mandatory challengers, television exposure, sponsorship opportunities and, ultimately, what fans get to watch.
That’s a huge responsibility.
Yet there seems to be very little expectation that a promoter should demonstrate they’re actually capable of doing the job before being handed that responsibility.
Maybe Boxing Needs a Better Standard
I’m not suggesting boxing should stop new promoters entering the sport.
Far from it.
Fresh ideas are exactly what boxing needs.
But perhaps there should be more to earning a promoter’s licence than simply proving you can stage an event.
Maybe promoters should have to demonstrate they understand the business of boxing.
Maybe they should have to complete recognised training.
Maybe they should have to show they understand fighter welfare, governance, contractual obligations and how the wider boxing ecosystem works.
Or perhaps boxing needs something similar to football’s fit and proper person test.
I know that system isn’t perfect. Football has still seen owners make disastrous decisions.
But at least there is an attempt to make sure people taking control of clubs meet certain standards.
Should boxing be asking the same questions of its promoters?
More Promoters Doesn’t Automatically Mean Better Boxing
One thing is certain.
The sport has more boxing promoters than ever before.
But has that actually improved boxing?
Sometimes I wonder whether it’s had the opposite effect.
Every promoter has their own stable of fighters.
Their own television partners.
Their own broadcasters.
Their own commercial interests.
Individually, that’s perfectly understandable.
Collectively, it creates a sport where making the biggest fights often feels unnecessarily complicated.
Instead of asking, “How do we make this fight happen?”
The conversation too often becomes…
“Who’s promoting it?”
“Who’s broadcasting it?”
“Who’s taking the bigger share?”
That’s not good for anyone.
Fighters Need to Look in the Mirror Too
Of course, the promoters aren’t the only ones responsible.
The fighters have a role to play as well.
Every boxer talks about legacy.
Every interview is filled with words like greatness, history and becoming one of the best.
Yet when career decisions are made, the biggest payday often seems to become the priority.
Now don’t get me wrong.
I completely understand why.
Boxing careers are short. One injury, one defeat or one bad night can change everything.
Every fighter has every right to secure their financial future.
But legacy and money don’t always belong in the same conversation.
If your goal is to make as much money as possible, that’s absolutely fine.
Own it.
But if your ambition is to leave behind one of the greatest legacies the sport has ever seen, eventually you have to chase the biggest challenges rather than simply the biggest cheque.
I’ve spoken before about what legacy really means in today’s sport.
The greatest champions are remembered because of who they fought, not because of who promoted them.
This Isn’t About Blaming One Promotional Company
It would be easy to point the finger at Zuffa Boxing because they’re the newest name in the sport.
But that would miss the point completely.
This isn’t a Zuffa problem.
It’s not a Matchroom problem.
It’s not a Queensberry problem.
It’s not a BOXXER, Golden Boy or Top Rank problem.
It’s a boxing problem.
Every promotional company naturally wants what’s best for its own business.
That’s exactly what businesses do.
The trouble is, when every promoter is looking after their own interests first, who’s looking after boxing?
Fans don’t care whose logo is on the posters.
They care about seeing the best fight the best.
When negotiations over potential fights like Shakur Stevenson versus Devin Haney become dominated by politics and competing interests rather than what makes sense for the sport, it’s difficult not to feel boxing is making life harder for itself.
It’s another example of boxing repeating mistakes we’ve seen for decades instead of learning from them.
Boxing Deserves Better
I don’t want fewer boxing promoters.
I want better ones.
I want promoters competing to build champions.
Competing to make the biggest fights.
Competing to put on unforgettable events.
Not competing to see who can keep hold of fighters the longest or make negotiations as complicated as possible.
Maybe raising the standards required to become a licensed promoter wouldn’t solve every problem boxing faces.
But if it encouraged professionalism, cooperation and accountability, surely that’s a conversation worth having.
Because boxing has never had more money.
It has never had more broadcasters.
It has never had more promotional companies.
Yet somehow, making the fights we all want to see still feels harder than it should.
Perhaps the problem isn’t the number of promoters.
Perhaps it’s the standards we expect from them.
Over to You
Do you think the current system works, or should aspiring boxing promoters have to prove they have the knowledge, experience and professionalism to earn a licence before they’re trusted with fighters’ careers?
I’d genuinely love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment below and join the discussion. If you enjoyed this article, please share it with your fellow boxing fans and then head over to CMBoxing for more opinion pieces, breaking news and in-depth analysis.