Tom Löffler and UFC CEO Dana White.
360 Promotions boss Tom Loeffler praised UFC CEO Dana White, calling him “the best combat sports promoter” he has ever seen.
Tom Loeffler has been working in boxing for decades, from the rise of American featherweight puncher Kevin Kelley in the 1990s to the dominance of heavyweight brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko and Gennadiy Golovkin in the middleweight division.
He has gotten up close and personal with iconic boxing promoters such as Don King and Bob Arum, but considers White to be the best of all combat sports promoters.
Tom Loeffler, Callum Walsh, Dana White and legendary trainer Freddie Roach from 360 Promotions.
“I’ve always been a traditional boxing promoter, but what Dana has accomplished with the UFC, and now you’re seeing it with Power Slap, he’s by far the best combat sports promoter I’ve ever seen,” Loeffler told World Boxing News .
“I dealt with Don King and Bob Arum. Everyone, really, with the Klitschkos and the Triple G days. But what Dana has achieved, with his insight, is truly impressive.”
Loeffler’s comments follow a successful show that White organized with Loeffler by chance with Loeffler’s promotional company 360 Grad, when rising Los Angeles-based super welterweight boxer Callum Walsh traveled to Dublin for a 10-round bout against Przemyslaw Runowski, Ireland returned.
Walsh scored a blowout victory over Runowski, ending the fight with a classic knockout in the second round.
Dana White CEO and promoter of the UFC.
One of the storylines from that Sept. 20 event from the 3Arena was White telling reporters that he was officially “in,” even when it comes to boxing.
From what the UFC boss previously told WBN, his involvement in boxing will be more from a broadcast and marketing perspective as he aligns himself with the modern HBO. He will therefore work with various organizers in this network. It is expected that two of these promoters will be Tom Loeffler, who broadcasts the 360 degree shows on UFC Fight Pass, and Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn.
“I think you’ll see that with the team we’ve put together and with the support of Dana White, the UFC platform and the structure, there could be some great things ahead for the sport of boxing,” Loeffler said.
“I get on very well with Eddie Hearn,” he added.
Tom Loeffler with his former student Gennady Golovkin.
Loeffler then pointed to a two-fight rivalry he has enjoyed with Hearn, in which they are tied 1-1 in terms of results. “We did the Kell Brook fight together in London where Triple G sold out the O2 Arena. He excited us when AJ beat Wladimir Klitschko.
“Now,” he added, “we have another fight ahead of us with Serhii Bohachuk and Israil Madrimov.”
Serhii Bohachuk is one of the hottest super welter welter stars in the world right now due to his role in the fight of the year against Vergil Ortiz in Las Vegas. Bohachuk lost a majority decision when Loeffler protested at the time. He returns to the ring against Madrimov, who went all 12 rounds with Terence Crawford in the same month. It’s a pairing that makes sense and could seemingly be quickly assembled for one of Riyadh’s marquee events of the season – as the co-main event of the highly anticipated rematch between dominant fighter Oleksandr Usyk and former champion Tyson Fury.
Dana White says he will likely work with several boxing promoters, including Eddie Hearn, Tom Loeffler and Frank Warren, to develop his vision for boxing.
“It’s going to be great,” Loeffler said. “And that’s something I learned with Triple G: To put together the best fights, you have to work with everyone. I have never understood the mentality of having a closed shop where only boxers with a specific promotion, assigned to the promotion, or assigned to a network can fight in that network. That never made sense to me.
“And you know what Dana has done with the UFC – he has fighters from all over the world from China, from Russia, Europe, you know, the US. And now he’s branching out to Mexico. We did that with Triple G too. We also targeted the Mexican fans.
“Dana definitely puts together the best fights, and if you want to put together the best fights in boxing, you have to work with whoever has the best boxers. This is what you have to give a lot of credit to ‘His Excellency’ Turki Alalshikh who is performing these fights in Saudi Arabia.”
Tom Löffler promoter of Gennady Golovkin, Chocolatito, Wladimir & Vitali Klitschko and Cecilia Brækhus.
White told WBN that he plans to launch his boxing project through “TKO Group” in early 2025. We asked White if this coincided with the boxing league rumored to be launching around this time, or if those two plans are separate rather than intertwined. He was rather unclear in his answer.
Regardless of whether White is the HBO for Alalshikh’s league or whether his project is separate, one thing is clear: promoters like Loeffler and perhaps Hearn will have a home there for their boxers.
“My commitment to Dana is that you see that the success of the UFC shows is due to the matchmaking that they do,” Loeffler said.
“All the fights on the show are all great fights and the fans love to see that. Due to the quality of the FightCards, the fans also come to the hall early. It was the same situation in Dublin.”
For Loeffler, this is “what boxing is missing” in a broader sense. “You get a lot of these big pay-per-view fights in Vegas and the arena is empty until the main event because no one is interested in the undercard.
“But with UFC fights they also reach the fans early because they know all those early fights are going to be interesting and competitive.
“And that’s really, again, the commitment we made with Dana and it’s working really well to deliver the highest boxing ratings ever seen on UFC Fight Pass.”
Those: WBN Alan Dawson.
