Boxing Reporter Mike Coppinger Leaves ESPN for Saudi Advisor’s Ring Magazine

Turki Alalshikh’s The Ring Magazine is beefing up its boxing coverage ahead of a big year of fights. 

The outlet has poached reporter Mike Coppinger from ESPN, Front Office Sports has learned. Coppinger declined to comment. 

It is a homecoming of sorts for Coppinger, who is considered the top news-breaker in the sport, as he previously worked for the outlet from 2017 to 2019. He has also covered boxing for The Athletic and USA Today. 

Alalshikh is the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and an advisor to the country’s Royal Court. He purchased The Ring, a publication that is more than 100 years old, from Oscar De La Hoya last year for a reported price tag of $10 million. 

Alalshikh has taken boxing by storm, backed by Saudi Arabia’s deep resources that have also gone into other sports like golf. In February, he signed Canelo Álvarez to a four-fight deal with Riyadh Season, which is expected to include a highly anticipated fight with Terence Crawford in Las Vegas this September. Boxing fans have wanted Álvarez-Crawford to happen for years, but rival promoters in boxing had never been able to make it happen.

There will also be a mega-card put on by Alalshikh—under the banner of The Ring Magazine—in Times Square in May that includes Ryan Garcia vs. Rolando Romero, Devin Haney vs. Jose Carlos Ramirez, and Teófimo López vs. Arnold Barboza. The Ring’s first boxing event will be April 26 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London. 

Alalshikh and The Ring are also partnering with Dana White and Nick Khan at TKO—the parent company of UFC and WWE—on a new boxing league. 

Coppinger had been ESPN’s lead boxing reporter since the summer of 2021. In addition to writing, The Ring is expected to use him in a variety of roles including video content and reporting live during fights.