Dana White’s boxing promotion announced Friday that the British welterweight has signed a new deal with the company. The announcement was accompanied by a video showing White and Benn shaking hands over a contract.
“CONOR BENN IS BACK š„,” Zuffa Boxing wrote in a post on X. “It’s official! @ConorNigel has signed a NEW deal with Zuffa Boxing! Big things on the horizonā¼ļø”
CONOR BENN IS BACK š„
Itās official! @ConorNigel has signed a NEW deal with Zuffa Boxing!
Benn had been a free agent since April 11, when he defeated Regis Prograis via unanimous decision (98-92 on all three cards) on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. That bout closed out Benn’s original one-fight agreement with Zuffa.
Benn had signaled earlier this month that a continued partnership with Zuffa was the likely outcome once his initial contract expired.
“After Saturday, I will be a completely free agent. Clearly, Zuffa is in the driving seat because of the way they’ve looked after me so well,” Benn told the PA News Agency before the Prograis fight.
Benn originally split from Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing in February after a decade-long partnership, a move Hearn described as a “dagger in the heart”
Terms of the new deal were not disclosed in Friday’s announcement.
Alycia Baumgardner has identified her next two targets, and she says the groundwork for both fights is already being laid.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show ahead of her MVPW-02 title defense against Bo Mi Re Shin on Friday, the unified super featherweight champion revealed she has spoken directly with Katie Taylor about a potential matchup and described the conversation as mutually respectful and promising.
“I was able to talk to Katie personally. I had a great conversation with her recently, woman to woman,” Baumgardner said. “I said, ‘Listen, I respect what you do. I love what you have done. I would love to share the ring with you.’ And she agreed. She respects my level of skills. She respects who I am as an individual. And we know what the sport needs. She’s a gamer. She’s game on.”
Baumgardner is equally direct about wanting Amanda Serrano, and she already has a venue in mind for that fight.
“I love that fight. I’ve been very vocal with Jordan Maldonado. I’ve been vocal with Amanda. Would love to share the ring with her. The money has to be there, obviously. And that’s a fight we could see in New York City at the Garden. We have the fan base for that.”
She framed both names as the only ones that matter when discussing women’s boxing at the highest level right now. “When we talk about a super fight, we talk about the biggest stage. We were on Netflix twice last year. Now we’re headlining on ESPN. There’s only two names that have that pedigree of being on a stage like that. Those are the two fights, a super fight that I want.”
For now, the focus is on Shin. Baumgardner defends her WBA, IBF, and WBO titles at Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden on Friday, headlining MVPW’s first show on ESPN. She views the performance as a statement that will accelerate conversations about those bigger matchups.
“The performance Friday night will elevate that. We’ll set the standard. Then, who do we want to see Alycia Baumgardner against? It’s got to be one of those two.”
MVPW-02 airs live on ESPN at 10 PM ET on Friday, April 17.
Oleksandr Usyk has delivered a pointed message to Tyson Fury while making his prediction for the Anthony Joshua fight crystal clear.
Speaking with Ring Magazine, Usyk was asked whether Fury could beat Joshua in a potential matchup between the two heavyweight names. His answer was brief and direct.
“AJ will win. AJ will beat you.”
The comment carries added weight given that Usyk defeated Joshua twice in their heavyweight title fights in 2022, making him one of the most credible voices on Joshua’s performance at the elite level. The two are now sharing a training camp ahead of Usyk’s May 23 crossover fight against Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza, with Joshua joining Usyk’s camp and the pair training on staggered daily schedules.
Usyk also reacted to Fury’s comeback win over Arslanbek Makhmudov last Saturday, saying he watched the first six rounds before leaving for church. He confirmed he heard Fury’s post-fight call for a trilogy but made clear that the conversation has to wait until after his own fight.
“I heard Tyson say, ‘Hey, maybe trilogy for us, I’m ready.’ But after my fight with Rico, because now my focus is only May 23rd.”
Rather than dismissing Fury’s return to the ring, Usyk framed it as a positive development for the sport, while also noting that the current generation of heavyweight names is approaching the end of its window.
“Tyson is a crazy man, but come back, four or five times. Tyson back. It’s good now. It’s needed. Needed player. Because all of us heavyweights, I think we have one, two years and the era changes. Young guys come. We go rest, play soccer, golf, drink beer.”
Usyk has previously stated he has approximately three fights remaining in his career: the Verhoeven bout, the winner of Fabio Wardley vs. Daniel Dubois, and a potential trilogy with Fury. A Joshua and Fury fight could reshuffle that timeline, but Usyk’s prediction on who wins that matchup was unambiguous.
Alycia Baumgardner does not believe Claressa Shields is the best women’s boxer in the world. The unified super featherweight champion made that position clear on The Ariel Helwani Show ahead of her MVPW-02 title defense on Friday, going further by naming Michaela Mayer as someone she believes would beat Shields outright.
“My opinion is Michaela Mayer would beat Clarissa Shields,” Baumgardner said. “I think skills matter. The skill set, the grit, the experience. Michaela Mayer and I fought in London, amazing fight. We sold that show. Nobody was tuning in for Clarissa Shields and Savannah Marshall. It was Alicia Baumgardner and Michaela Mayer that sold that show at the O2 Arena.”
Baumgardner drew a distinction between Shields’ accomplishments and her actual ability, making clear she respects the resume without accepting the conclusion that it makes Shields the best.
“Clarissa thinks she’s the best in the world. She truly believes that. I don’t think she is,” Baumgardner said. “I think she’s the most accomplished, but I don’t think she’s the best. I believe that Michaela Mayer has the skills to beat Clarissa Shields due to her experience in boxing, her loss, and her character build.”
She also questioned Shields’ conditioning and commitment to making weight for bigger fights, issuing a direct challenge to her preparation habits.
“How dedicated are you? Get a nutritionist,” Baumgardner said. “I’ve never seen that girl come to weigh-ins with abs at all, and I don’t know if that’s AI, so you can’t tell me. I’ve never seen her come to weigh-ins in tip-top shape. If you want those big fights, come down to the weight class and get a nutritionist. It’s not hard. Fighters do it all the time.”
When the conversation turned to pound-for-pound rankings, Baumgardner dismissed the concept entirely, saying external validation plays no role in how she measures herself.
“These are people who come together at the kitchen table to make a list. I do not care about that list,” she said. “I don’t move off other people’s validation for me, their expectations for me. I know what I do on a daily basis. Baby, I make my own list. I’m pound-for-pound 1 through 10.”
Baumgardner defends her WBA, IBF, and WBO super featherweight titles against Bo Mi Re Shin at MVPW-02 on Friday, live on ESPN at 10 PM ET.
Eddie Hearn believes Netflix broke from its usual pattern by releasing only a UK viewership figure for the Tyson Fury vs. Arslanbek Makhmudov fight at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 11, and he thinks the reason is straightforward.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, the Matchroom chairman noted that Netflix has consistently released global figures for its boxing events, and that the decision to release a UK-only figure of 5 million viewers suggests the worldwide total was not worth publicizing.
“I’ve never seen it announced like that before. Every other show’s given a global number,” Hearn said. “The bulk of that viewership would be in the UK, but you’d have to think the number was less than 10 million, certainly, and it may even be less than seven or eight. Just strange that a UK number was given rather than a global number.”
The event also featured Conor Benn vs. Regis Prograis and Shakur Stevenson vs. Teofimo Lopez on the undercard, giving the card additional star power beyond Fury’s return fight. Despite that, the viewership picture appears to have fallen short of the benchmarks Netflix has previously seen from its boxing portfolio, which has included major numbers for Jake Paul events and the first Fury vs. Usyk fight.
The figures carry implications beyond the Makhmudov fight itself. Netflix is expected to broadcast the Anthony Joshua vs. Fury fight later this year, and a declining trend in Fury’s standalone drawing power could affect the platform’s approach to that deal. A sub-10 million global number for Fury’s return would represent a meaningful step back from the numbers the platform has used to justify its investment in boxing.
Eddie Hearn has delivered his sharpest take yet of Zuffa Boxing, telling The Ariel Helwani Show that five months into Dana White’s boxing venture, the promotion has produced nothing worth pointing to and may have already committed one of the worst deals in recent boxing history.
“These guys are very powerful and smart, but I actually don’t think they know what they’re doing,” Hearn said. “The more I look at it, I’m not sure there even is a strategy. It’s kind of like ‘sign who you can sign and then go from there.’”
The centerpiece of Hearn’s criticism was the reported Conor Benn deal. According to reports, Zuffa paid $15 million for Benn’s 10-round fight against Regis Prograis on the Fury-Makhmudov Netflix card, with no future options attached. Matchroom is demanding full financial disclosure to confirm the figure, but Hearn was unsparing in his assessment if the number is accurate.
“If you want to get sucked into the fact that someone would pay $15 million for a 10-round fight where it’s probably worth a million dollars, and have no future options, no deal in place, you are probably the biggest idiot on the planet,” he said. He called it potentially “one of the worst pieces of business” in boxing and expressed disbelief that no senior Zuffa executives attended the fight or visited the changing room despite the scale of the investment. “You must have some serious money if you’re just willing to spunk 15 million up the wall in a 10-round fight and not even send anybody to try and secure that deal,” Hearn said.
Beyond the Benn situation, Hearn challenged anyone to name a genuinely impressive Zuffa show since the promotion launched. He pointed to small crowds, inconsistent scheduling, and underwhelming matchups as evidence that the execution has not matched the ambition. He also questioned the status of the boxing league concept Zuffa initially promoted, noting that governing bodies are already calling mandatories that complicate the model. While acknowledging that the roster includes legitimate names like Richardson Hitchins and Edgar Berlanga, Hearn argued the shows themselves have not reflected the promotional firepower behind them.
“If I did those shows I would get screamed out of town by five fans,” he said. “‘What is this? There’s 150 people here in this room. Who are these people? What are these fights?’”
Anthony Joshua created a moment of tension at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday when he declined to enter the ring, and Eddie Hearn has now explained exactly why. Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, the Matchroom chairman revealed that Joshua deliberately decided not to make a public announcement about a fight he does not yet consider finalized.
“I asked AJ if he wanted to get in the ring. He said to me, ‘I don’t want to get in the ring and announce a fight that’s not done. I feel like that’s not being fair and honest with the British public. What if it doesn’t happen? How many times have we done this before?’” Hearn said.
The standoff played out inside the stadium, with Turki Alalshikh’s team calling Joshua out from the ring while he remained seated in the crowd. Hearn told the organizers Joshua would not be getting in the ring, and was informed that Tyson Fury might say something over the rope instead.
On the contractual side, Hearn confirmed that a contract arrived at the end of last week and is currently being reviewed by both Joshua’s personal legal team and Matchroom’s lawyers. He expects a red-lined version to be returned to the Saudi side within 24 to 48 hours. Despite that progress, Hearn was careful to draw a clear line between intention and completion. “There’s a difference between ‘we’re all moving forward to finalize the fight’ and a fight being done and signed,” he said. “It is absolutely our intention to try and close this deal, but it’s not done and it’s not signed. We have been here on a number of occasions before where the fight has fallen through.” He described the remaining issues as nothing major but stressed that Joshua will not rush the process for the sake of optics.
Hearn framed Joshua’s caution as appropriate given the scale of what is being negotiated. “We’re fully committed to making this fight and I fully expect this fight to happen, but it will happen at our speed, in the right way,” he said. “In due time, AJ will be there to collect his rent.” He called the proposed Joshua vs. Fury matchup the biggest fight in the history of British boxing and one of the biggest fights of all time, arguing it deserves to be handled accordingly rather than rushed into a premature announcement.
The proposed deal structure calls for a July warmup fight for Joshua followed by the Fury bout in November. Joshua has not fought since a car crash earlier this year disrupted his original timeline, and Hearn said the warmup is essential given what Joshua has been through physically in the lead-up to what would be the defining fight of his career.
Oleksandr Usyk has named his price for a third fight with Tyson Fury, and it isn’t cheap. The unified heavyweight champion told The Stomping Ground in London that “Greedy Belly” will need to back up his talk with a nine-zero payday.
“Listen. Greedy belly. Give me billion dollars. You take trilogy,” Usyk said.
The number is a direct shot at Fury’s own history of floating massive purse demands for big fights. Usyk delivered it with a smile, but the message landed: if Fury wants a third crack, he can fund it himself.
Usyk Unbothered by the “Blown-Up Cruiserweight” Talk
Fury’s camp has leaned on the “blown-up cruiserweight” line throughout both fight weeks. Usyk, now 24-0 with 15 knockouts and holding The Ring, WBC, WBA, and IBF titles, doesn’t appear to be losing sleep over it.
“Maybe I don’t know. Listen, it’s now it’s my opponent, but I not feel bad. Okay. Listen, I happy,” Usyk said.
The composure tracks with how he’s handled every round of Fury-camp shots, before, during, and after their two fights in Riyadh.
Backing Anthony Joshua to Beat “Greedy Belly”
The warmth Usyk showed toward Anthony Joshua, a man he’s also beaten twice, was the other headline. Joshua has been training alongside Usyk in camp, and the Ukrainian sees a future undisputed champion in him.
“AJ, it’s a future undisputed champion. My Bratton, you know Bratton? Bro, your brother, your bro.”
Asked directly who wins if Joshua and Fury finally share a ring, Usyk didn’t hedge.
“I don’t know who wins the fight. AJ. Really? Yes, of course. AJ win.”
The endorsement carries weight. Eddie Hearn has already confirmed a two-fight deal on the table for Joshua that includes a July warmup and Fury in November.
On Fury vs. Makhmudov
Fury returned from a 16-month layoff on April 11 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, taking a wide unanimous decision over Arslanbek Makhmudov on scores of 120-108, 120-108, and 119-109. Usyk watched the same fight most fans did, one where the finish never came.
“Tyson win. It’s a good. Listen, it’s win. It’s not lost. But maybe a lot of people want to do Tyson knock him out. I’m too.”
Fury used his post-fight mic time to call out Joshua for a Battle of Britain later this year. Joshua refused to step in the ring for the face-off and stared him down instead.
Style Points
The interview opened with Usyk getting a compliment on his outfit. The reply was pure Usyk.
Manny Pacquiao and his team set an April 14 deadline for Floyd Mayweather to honor the terms of their signed contract for a professional rematch on September 19 at The Sphere in Las Vegas, streaming on Netflix. Speaking on DAZN’s Inside the Ring, Pacquiao made clear he believes Mayweather’s attempts to rebrand the bout as an exhibition are rooted in fear.
“I think he’s scared of losing, because that’s his leverage to go around and have exhibition matches,” Pacquiao said. “If that record will ruin, then what else that he can leverage for to go around and have exhibition matches?”
Contractual Standoff Escalates
The dispute traces back to late March, when Mayweather told reporters the fight did not have a confirmed venue and called it an exhibition. That contradicted the February announcement by Netflix, which framed the bout as a sanctioned professional rematch with Mayweather’s 50-0 record on the line.
Pacquiao said he contacted his team immediately.
“I called Jas right away. What happened? That’s not what we signed, we signed a real fight,” he said. “He’s got his event, he’s announcing this exhibition, blah, blah, blah.”
Pacquiao Promotions CEO Jas Mathur backed up his fighter with an aggressive legal posture, confirming that Mayweather had signed multiple contracts and already taken financial advances against his purse, including a loan beyond the initial deposits.
“I am by far the worst person on the planet to play chicken with,” Mathur said. “So, we’re not blinking. These are the contracts. They’re signed. He’s notarized the loan docs.”
Pacquiao Confident Fight Will Happen
Despite the standoff, Pacquiao told ESPN he remains “100% confident” the fight proceeds as planned. He pointed to the financial commitments already in place as proof neither side can walk away.
“We both signed the contract and we both got our advance on our purses, so there’s no way we’re going to cancel this fight,” Pacquiao told ESPN. “Even with our first fight, he’s a lot to deal with, but the fight happened.”
According to previous reporting on the dispute, Mayweather could face eight- or nine-figure damages if he breaches the agreement. Mathur told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the penalties are “quite substantial.”
Pacquiao, 47, returned from a four-year retirement last year, fighting then-WBC welterweight titleholder Mario Barrios to a draw. Mayweather, 49, has not competed professionally since stopping Conor McGregor in 2017 but has remained active on the exhibition circuit. Their first meeting in 2015 generated 4.6 million pay-per-view buys, the most in boxing history.
Mathur said discussions between the two camps are ongoing and expressed optimism.
“We are 100% confident that the overall outcome from this situation will turn out positive,” Mathur told ESPN earlier this week. “Floyd has to live up to his obligations, and I think he wants this fight to happen, too.”
The Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford super middleweight championship fight generated $303.9 million in total economic impact for Las Vegas, according to a new study conducted by research firm Applied Analysis and announced by TKO on Tuesday.
The September 13, 2025, Riyadh Season showdown at Allegiant Stadium drew 70,482 fans, marking the largest boxing event attendance in Nevada history. The fight streamed globally on Netflix and became the most-watched men’s championship boxing match of the century.
Canelo vs. Crawford Economic Breakdown
The Applied Analysis study found that the event produced $73.8 million in salaries and wages, supported 1,335 local jobs, and generated $15.8 million in fiscal impact from taxes paid by the organization and visitor spending.
Nearly all of the crowd traveled from outside Las Vegas. Per the study, 95.6% of attendees were non-local, with 10.1% traveling internationally. A staggering 94.8% of attendees said they traveled to Las Vegas specifically for the fight.
Part of $626M Combined TKO Impact
The Canelo vs. Crawford figures were released alongside WWE’s WrestleMania 41 numbers as part of a combined $626.1 million economic impact announcement. WrestleMania 41, held April 19-20, 2025, at the same venue, delivered $322.2 million in economic output.
“The findings confirm what we saw firsthand: these were both extraordinarily impactful events for Las Vegas,” said Steve Hill, CEO and President of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. “More than a successful fight night and WrestleMania spectacle, these were true destination drivers that compelled fans to travel here for the experience.”
WrestleMania 42 Returns This Weekend
The announcement comes as WrestleMania 42 returns to Allegiant Stadium this Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19, marking the second consecutive year Las Vegas hosts WWE’s flagship event.
The fight, orchestrated by HE Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, in collaboration with TKO, Dana White, and Sela, set a new benchmark for boxing’s economic footprint in the city.
