The Ring magazine has made a statement about Queensberry Promotions that is better left ignored.
The boxing magazine put out a statement on their social media accounts making various claims about the promotional entity that are, frankly, laughable. It should come as no surprise that they have done so. After all, The Ring magazine is owned by Turki Al-Sheikh. He is a co-founder of Zuffa Boxing, a joint venture between Sela and TKO. Those are two companies currently embroiled in a lawsuit with, you guessed it, Queensberry Promotions.
According to reporting done by The Telegraph, promoter Frank Warren alleges that Sela and TKO breached contracts they signed with him. They reportedly went behind his back to form a venture (Zuffa Boxing) that excludes Queensberry Promotions (Sela rejects the claims). The Ring’s statement (which completely ignores their conflict of interest) comments on this very lawsuit.
What The Ring magazine said
Here is the statement made by The Ring in full (and in case they decide to delete it, the text has been pasted below the post):
Rumors are circulating in the boxing world, that Queensberry is in financial trouble without a continued business relationship with Sela and TKO. The loss of those relationships has influenced Queensberry’s threat to sue Sela and TKO.
Rumors indicate that their announcement to… pic.twitter.com/evvZZ6XCdm
— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) February 25, 2026
“Rumors are circulating in the boxing world, that Queensberry is in financial trouble without a continued business relationship with Sela and TKO. The loss of those relationships has influenced Queensberry’s threat to sue Sela and TKO.
Rumors indicate that their announcement to the media of legal action was timed before their Wardley v Dubois press conference, which took place today, for an event which is struggling to sell tickets.
Queensberry have not been promoting any Riyadh Season fights since last November, and there are no plans for the two sides to work together in the future.
Turki [Al-Sheikh] and Sela were made aware that the rumors of litigation were leaked from Queensberry and this has created an unrepairable rift, due to Queensberry’s cordial communications in the open and being volatile behind the scenes.”
Fact-checking the statement
There is virtually no reporting anywhere else of Queensberry Promotions’ “financial trouble.” The Ring appears to be the only outlet making this claim. Again, the publication is owned by a co-founder of a joint venture between Sela and TKO. With both of those companies being named in Warren’s lawsuit, The Ring commenting on the matter is a conflict of interest.
The general onsale for Fabio Wardley’s fight against Daniel Dubois begin on Feb. 27. Given that, the claim that the event “is struggling to sell tickets” makes very little sense. Queensberry Promotions fighters last appeared on a card in Saudi Arabia in November last year. The Riyadh Season logo was present on the canvas of Nick Ball vs. Brandon Figueroa, a fight that took place on Feb. 7. Whether that is still the case remains to be seen in their next event.
Fury’s upcoming bout against Arslanbek Makhmudov does appear to be an event with no Queensberry Promotions involvement. That seems unlikely to change with the lawsuit. There have so far been no reports of other fighters currently with the company looking to change promoters.
How to respond to The Ring magazine’s “reporting”
To be blunt, The Ring is a mouthpiece for its current owner. Anything they say, in particular now with regards to Warren’s lawsuit, should be taken with a pinch of salt. The fact that it is a boxing publication with a 100-plus year history should not matter. As long as it is under Al-Sheikh’s ownership, The Ring will remain an untrustworthy source of boxing news.
Boxing fans do not need a writer like me to tell them that The Ring should not be trusted. However, being silent while a publication continues to parrot the nonsense of its owner is also not an option. As long as The Ring continues to operate under such stupidity, we should continue to deny it credibility.
Featured Image Credit:
Mark Robinson – Matchroom Boxing
