Top Rank, which has a co-promotional agreement with Naoya Inoue (Ohashi Gym) and others, will see its broadcasting contract with ESPN expire at the end of July. It has been confirmed that the contract will not be renewed, and there are no planned events for August—effectively confirming that there will be no promotions held that month.
On the other hand, while there had been speculation that ESPN might withdraw from boxing altogether, it has now been revealed that the network has entered preliminary negotiations with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), led by Al Haymon, regarding potential future programming.
Top Rank first signed with ESPN in 2017, and in 2018, they agreed to a new seven-year deal. The final broadcast under this partnership will be the WBC Interim World Featherweight Title Match, scheduled for July 26 (July 27 Japan time) at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. The event will be headlined by No. 1-ranked Bruce Carrington (USA, 15-0, 9 KOs) versus No. 12-ranked Matheus Heita (Namibia, 14-0, 9 KOs).
On June 19, WBO World Welterweight Champion Brian Norman Jr. (USA, 27 wins, 21 KOs, 0 losses, 2 no contests), who is under contract with Top Rank, defended his title against No. 2-ranked Jin Sasaki (Hachioji Nakaya Gym, 19 wins, 17 KOs, 1 loss, 1 draw) at the Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo. This bout was also broadcast to the U.S. via ESPN, and Top Rank founder Bob Arum was present in Japan. However, no future broadcast deals have been officially discussed at this time.
Top Rank has built a cooperative relationship with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) since the beginning of this year. Both sides have agreed to collaborate on organizing major matchups featuring fighters promoted by each organization.
One such event is scheduled for August 16 (August 17 Japan time) at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where PBC will host a rematch event headlined by Gervonta Davis vs. Lamont Roach. On the same card, it has been tentatively decided that WBC World Super Featherweight Champion O’Shaquie Foster (USA, 23 wins [12 KOs], 3 losses), who is signed with Top Rank, will defend his title against WBC World Featherweight Champion Stephen Fulton (USA, 23 wins [8 KOs], 1 loss), a PBC fighter.
In terms of viewership, the most-watched Top Rank event on ESPN in fiscal year 2024 was the WBO Women’s World Welterweight Title bout between Sandy Ryan and Mikaela Mayer, held on September 27 (September 28 Japan time) at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, which drew 993,000 viewers.
This year’s other notable ESPN viewership numbers for Top Rank events include:
- Keyshawn Davis vs. Denys Berinchyk on February 14 (Feb 15 Japan time): 559,000 viewers
- Sandy Ryan vs. Mikaela Mayer II on March 29 (March 30 Japan time): 474,000 viewers
- Naoya Inoue vs. Luis Nery on May 4 (May 5 Japan time): 537,000 viewers
- Emanuel Navarrete vs. Charlie Suarez on May 10 (May 11 Japan time): 342,000 viewers
- Abdullah Mason vs. Jeremiah Nakathila on June 7 (June 8 Japan time): 538,000 viewers
Now, the question is whether Top Rank will secure a new broadcasting platform. As ESPN has entered preliminary negotiations with PBC regarding future programming, all eyes are on how this development might impact Top Rank moving forward.
It’s the broadcasting platform that generates the big fight purses.
Which platform to choose will be the true test of a promoter’s skill in the boxing world moving forward!
This article has been translated and published with permission from BOXING MASTER.
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