Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), the boxing promotion business founded by Nakisa Bidarian and Jake Paul, has launched a new global platform for women’s boxing (MVPW) and agreed a broadcast deal with ESPN.
The major sports network will be the home of MVPW events under a multi-year agreement through 2028.
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The deal with ESPN will start on April 5 with three events featuring Alycia Baumgardner, Caroline Dubois, Ellie Scotney, Shadasia Green, and Holly Holm competing in separate fights.
The inaugural event, MVPW-01, will be MVP's UK debut, which will be headlined by WBC lightweight champion Dubois facing off against WBO titleholder Terri Harper in a 10-round unification bout at Olympia Events in London.
It will be streamed live on the ESPN App in the US, while pay-TV giant Sky Sports will broadcast the event live in the United Kingdom.
The platform makes its US linear debut on April 17 with MVPW-02, headlined by MVP’s unified super featherweight world champion Baumgardner defending her titles against South Korea's Bo Mi Re Shin at Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden (MSG) in New York City.
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By GlobalDataIn addition, MVP and MSG Entertainment have also agreed on a strategic partnership to stage annual MVPW events at the iconic MSG venue over the next three years.
Bidarian and Paul said: “Since inception, MVP has strategically focused on creating an umbrella brand as the global home for women’s boxing, with the best fighters in the world, that engages existing boxing fans and attracts untapped fan demographics that embrace women’s sport, and we now proudly enter a new era.
“Over the past five years, we have invested heavily in female athletes, delivered historic and record-breaking events, and proven that these athletes belong on the biggest stages in the sport. Partnering with ESPN to launch MVPW across its platforms is a historic milestone, and aligning with the world’s most iconic venue, Madison Square Garden, as we introduce the brand in the US, reinforces the scale and ambition behind what we are building.”
MVP was launched in 2021 and co-promoted the historic 2022 fight between Ireland’s Katie Taylor and Puerto Rico’s Amanda Serrano, which was the first women's boxing match to headline MSG.
The bout set a new women’s boxing viewership record on the DAZN international sports streaming service, drawing a global audience of 1.5 million.
It was also watched by a sold-out crowd of 19,187 inside MSG, where Serrano and Taylor had already made history by being the first two female fighters to headline a combat sports event in the 140-year history of the iconic venue.
MVP also promoted the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson bout which was watched by over 60 million households on Netflix. A rematch between Taylor and Serrano featured as the co-main event and attracted almost 50 million households.
At the time, the streaming giant said that fight, a narrow and controversial points victory for the legendary Taylor, was “likely to be the most watched professional women's sporting event in US history.”
The most recent event under the MVP banner was the fight between Paul and Anthony Joshua, which attracted a global audience of 33 million on Netflix.
