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‘Best thing to ever happen’ – Dana White’s shock career announcement backed by boxing legend and pal Mike Tyson
The 55-year-old's plans were inadvertently leaked last week
MIKE Tyson has hailed Dana White's announcement that he plans to enter the world of boxing.
The UFC supremo is a long-time fan of the sweet science and revealed plans to gatecrash the sport ahead of Conor McGregor's 2017 showdown with Floyd Mayweather.
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Zuffa Boxing, however, never got off the ground - although the veteran promoter revealed last week that he's reignited those plans.
And his announcement was well received by his good friend Tyson, who reckons the UFC head honcho will change the sport for the better.
During an appearance on the , he said: “Is he really in boxing now?
“Well listen, that’s going to be the best thing to ever happen to boxing, just like the UFC.
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"If you’re in the UFC and if anyone is booing your fight, you’re not gonna see that guy again.
"His next fight is gonna be in South Dakota somewhere.
“If you don’t have a good fight, you’re never gonna see that guy again.
"Not like boxing, ‘Oh this guy is gonna fight next month again,’ I don’t wanna see that.
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"If any fights stink, you’re not back in the UFC anymore, you’re never going to see those guys again."
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White's decision to attempt to resurrect Zuffa Boxing isn't completely out of the blue given his recent platforming and promotion of undefeated Irish super-welterweight Callum Walsh on UFC Fight Pass.
And Eagled-eyed MMA fans noticed that the YouTube highlights from Walsh's homecoming event in Dublin last week had "Zuffa Boxing" plastered on the thumbnails.
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The thumbnails seemingly let the cat out of the bag and prompted White to say: “There will be some big announcements.
"If you know anything about me and you go back and look at anything I ever said.
"I never say anything that I don’t do, ever.
"We’ve been kicking the boxing thing around for a long time and you’ve never heard me commit and say, ‘I’m in’. I’m in.”
It remains to be seen whether or not Zuffa Boxing actually gets off the ground this time.
But White is in a much better place financially to enter the boxing world following the UFC's joining of forces with the WWE to form the TKO Group, which as of last September, was valued at £16BILLION ($21.4B).
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