In boxing and beyond, the biggest brands leverage heritage to punch above their weight
By Dan George, Director, Deputy Head of Brand, Insight and Strategy
Believe it or not, I didn’t always mean to be a marketer.
Growing up I dreamt of floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. I wanted nothing more than to be a brilliant boxer.
Sadly, my skills were more Mr. Bean than Prince Naseem.
Much to my mother’s relief, I was forced to find less concussive sources of income. But that didn’t keep me from following the sweet science over the years.
Not that it was easy. As things stand, there are 17 weight classes (excluding the controversial and barely-contested new bridgerweight division) in both the men and women’s sports. For each of these there are four major sanctioning bodies awarding title belts. Theoretically that means there could be 136 recognized world champions operating at any given time.
That’s too much to keep up with. Even worse, it disincentivizes the best from fighting the best so you rarely really know who’s number 1 in a weight class at any given time. And for decades it’s seemed like an insoluble problem.
Enter TKO Group, the team behind mixed martial arts’ dominant UFC franchise, which last week declared its intent to take over the sport, reduce the number of weight classes and anoint a single champion for each.
This is nothing new in itself. The history of boxing is punctuated by failed attempts to streamline the sport, all of which have fallen apart when faced with the commercial realities of operating in a highly political sport with no teams where the athletes are all freelancers.
So why am I writing about this? TKO has a trick up its sleeve. It’s partnered with Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA). Since entering the scene two years ago the GEA has put unprecedented sums behind a series of mega-fights, building relationships with top talent and proving that nobody has the financial firepower to compete when it comes to putting on the biggest shows.
But that’s not all the GEA’s bringing to the table. With its billions comes an uncommonly deep appreciation of brand. Because the GEA recently bought the famous Ring magazine, the self-proclaimed “Bible of boxing”.
At face value, this seems an innocuous move. Until the TKO deal it seemed like a straightforward attempt to shape the narrative around its involvement in the sport and perhaps, in turn, put a little extra backing behind the GEA’s favorite fighter.
Now, though, the purchase takes on a whole new significance. Because The Ring awards fighters a belt of its own and in the absence of an undisputed champion holding all four official titles, the Ring’s champion is commonly seen as the top dog in the division. In fact it’s the Ring belt that features in the Rocky movies – it’s got real cultural heft.
This gives the new venture a huge head start that none of its predecessors ever had. Because , instead of sitting the TKO belt alongside the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO’s as yet another alphabet title, if they choose to the team can offer fighters a more prestigious prize, steeped in a century of history.
The value of such heritage can’t be overstated. Whether it’s using nostalgia to reinforce existing brand associations, providing an anchor for their core values to ease the way for reinvention or simply turning their track record into trust and credibility, many of the biggest and best brands in the world leverage their histories to build equity.
The GEA’s reported $10 million investment could mean hundreds of millions saved in enticing fighters to engage with the enterprise by giving them something worth fighting for. It could even make the difference between success and the failure familiar to all those who’ve tried this before.
I would not be surprised if we’re looking back at this move in five years’ time and calling it boxing’s bargain of the century. And reflecting on how the very best brands really do punch above their weight to make the ostensibly impossible suddenly seem inevitable.
Key takeaways
Q: Why is The Ring belt so important in boxing?
A: The Ring belt carries over 100 years of heritage, widely recognized as a symbol of legitimacy. It holds cultural weight far beyond other championship belts.
Q: How does TKO Group and Saudi Arabia’s investment tie into branding?
A: By backing The Ring belt, they’re using legacy branding to establish credibility and support their efforts to create a clear, marketable champion.
Q: What can other industries learn from this branding move?
A: Strong brands leverage history to build trust and credibility. Like Rolex in watches or Ferrari in cars, The Ring belt could become boxing’s ultimate brand anchor.
