Queensbury Promotions is seeking $1bn in compensation over an alleged breach of contract, as Warren is the latest British boxing promoter to challenge TKO’s Zuffa Boxing.
Frank Warren’s Queensbury Promotions has reportedly filed letters against TKO Group and Saudi Arabian boxing event company Sela, seeking up to $1bn in compensation.
According to The Telegraph, Queensbury Promotions has filed ‘letters before action’ and is preparing to take the matter up with a High Court if TKO and Sela are unwilling to settle.
Warren is claiming Sela and TKO have allegedly breached contracts Queensbury had in place with the companies in 2023. This is primarily due to the formation of Zuffa Boxing, a joint venture between TKO and Sela.
Queensbury argues the formation of the rival boxing promotion breached its contracts and is seeking the $1bn – the figure the company projects it would have earned if its contracts had been honoured.
The contract between Queensbury and Sela was first signed in September 2023, with the Saudi events company helping to stage Queensbury boxing events such as Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou, under its Riyadh Season banner.
Separately, Queensbury and TKO had a contract in place which granted TKO access to Queensbury’s online data, which housed contractual information, according to The Telegraph.
Boxing’s new disruptor
Since Zuffa Boxing was first announced in March 2025, it has become a disruptor in the sport in more ways than one.
UFC President Dana White is the lead promoter of Zuffa Boxing, with Turki Alalshikh acting as its Chairman. Zuffa Boxing is 60% owned by Sela, while 40% is owned by TKO.
The boxing promotion is the latest combat sports property under TKO’s portfolio. The publicly traded company already owns UFC and WWE and has a total market capitalisation of between $16.45bn – $17.19bn, according to Yahoo.
Zuffa Boxing signed its first broadcast rights deal with Paramount in a five-year deal that started in January 2026. Paramount has broadcasted the first three Zuffa boxing events in the US, Canada and Latin America.
White and Zuffa Boxing have been vocal in the changes they want to make to the sport when it pertains to reducing weight classes, boxer pay and the establishment of a singular world title per weight division to remove the fragmentation among the sanctioning bodies (WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO).
However, these changes and Zuffa Boxing’s approach has not gone unnoticed by its competitors.
Boxing’s new divide
On February 20, Zuffa Boxing announced the signing of Welterweight world title challenger Conor Benn to its roster which also added Cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia a month prior.
Benn joined Zuffa Boxing from Matchroom Boxing, led by Eddie Hearn, who he had been signed with since his debut in 2016.
Hearn and White had been embroiled in a war of words regarding Zuffa Boxing’s entry into the sport days before Benn signed with the rival promotion. White told Hearn he has never had “any type of vision”, while Hearn responded by labelling White’s “vision” as “staging mediocre fights in his garage in front of about 112 people”.
Following this, upon the news of Benn leaving Matchroom for Zuffa Boxing, Hearn told iFL TV he blamed himself for the boxer’s departure.
“I blame myself because I forgot it was boxing. I just felt that the loyalty that we’ve shown would never, ever put us in this position,” Hearn said. “I made a mistake because I misjudged the character.
“But when I received the email from his lawyer, I text him and said, ‘I think we should have a call. I think for everything I’ve done for you, I deserve a call.’ He said, no.”
