Boxing fans have been told to expect some Dana White magic Saturday night on Netflix.
White is promoting Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford, a super fight that sees the latter move up two divisions to challenge for the Mexican star’s undisputed super middleweight status.
The bout will take place at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium and marks the first major boxing event promoted by White and Riyadh Season’s Turki Alalshikh.
Many are expecting White’s influence to be visible during the Netflix broadcast, and one UFC legend in particular is ‘guaranteeing’ something positive for the viewers.
Chael Sonnen predicts improvements with Dana White at the helm for Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford
Broadcast issues have long been a prominent talking point in boxing, with one of the major pet peeves brought up by fans being slow pacing. White has already vowed to fix that issue, and former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen is expecting many more improvements courtesy of the 56-year-old.
While looking ahead to Alvarez vs Crawford during a recent episode of his Good Guy/Bad Guy show alongside Daniel Cormier, Sonnen promised boxing fans that White will bring about changes that they will have wished came sooner.
“You will see it as a viewer,” Sonnen said. “The presentation that Dana White’s going to put forward, whether it’s the color of the ring, whether it’s the walkouts, the presentation is going to be different.
“I am very excited for that. I am ready for something new. There’s only certain things you can do, right? You’ve got a squared circle that’s 17 feet by 17 feet, you’ve got the same commission that oversees it; there’s only certain things you can do.
“But I guarantee Dana will do something,” Sonnen continued. “And when you watch, it’s going to be a treat and you’re going to go, ‘Oh, I wish we had that before.’ … I think that is one of the most exciting things.”
Dana White reveals Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford undercard bonuses
It seems broadcast adjustments won’t be the only thing White is bringing over from the UFC for the upcoming boxing event.
While speaking to Stephen A. Smith for Sirius XM ahead of Saturday’s Netflix super fight, White revealed bonuses for the Alvarez vs Crawford undercard.
Like in MMA’s leading promotion, additional ‘Performance of the Night’ and ‘Fight of the Night’ checks will be handed out to the card’s top performers, main event fighters excluded.
“The opportunity wasn’t there during the press conference,” White said. “So I’ll announce it right here.
“Canelo and Crawford are going to do just fine (financially) on Saturday. They’re going to be okay. But on the undercard fights, we’re going to have a ‘Performance of the Night’ and a Fight of the Night.
“$100,000 each for the fighters on the undercard from Turki Alalshikh,” White added.