Nick Khan used WWE’s relationship with Make-A-Wish as a point of contrast with boxing’s governing bodies during his appearance before a Senate committee hearing on the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act.
Speaking at the April 22 hearing, Khan disclosed that Make-A-Wish, one of WWE’s charity partners, purchased $2,500 worth of WrestleMania 42 tickets, a figure he highlighted with the spending habits of the WBC, which he described as presenting itself as a nonprofit.
“So WrestleMania this past weekend, Make-A-Wish, WWE does a lot of work with Make-A-Wish. John Cena, in particular, has made more wishes happen than any other human in the existence of Make-A-Wish. Make-A-Wish, a nonprofit organization, they bought $2,500 of tickets.
The WBC for Canelo/Crawford, they hold themselves out as a nonprofit, they purchased $265,000 of tickets for that event and insisted upon a suite for the President of their company. It’s a mess. It’s not just health and safety. We all want more health and safety. It’s about presenting an option and by the way, if fighters want to, as Mr. De La Hoya said, they wanna fight for those belts, please, feel free. We’re not saying get rid of them. We’re saying keep the Ali Act as is. Just provide this option for the UBOs, which we think is great for the fighters,” Khan said.
Khan appeared at the hearing in his capacity as both WWE President and Zuffa Boxing executive, with TKO having partnered with Sela, a Saudi Arabian entertainment conglomerate, on the boxing venture.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit the Senate committee hearing with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
