Top Rank, the US-based boxing promotion led by the legendary Bob Arum, has officially ended its domestic broadcast partnership with sports TV heavyweight ESPN after the expiry of their contract.
On July 26, Puerto Rico’s Xander Zayas defeated Mexico’s Jorge Garcia by unanimous decision at a Top Rank event at New York City’s iconic Madison Square Garden, to secure the WBO super welterweight title, become boxing’s youngest current male world champion in the process.
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That bout proved to be the final Top Rank match on ESPN, with the promotion’s long-running linear TV deal expiring after the fight night.
The pair’s major long-term deal saw ESPN broadcast 54 Top Rank events per year, and had run since 2018, covering both the primary English-language channel, the Spanish-language ESPN Deportes channel, and the ESPN+ streaming platform.
Back in February, Arum said that the deal would likely not be renewed, and with no replacement having been found yet, it means that Top Rank has, for now, exited the linear TV space entirely.
This means that talents such as Zayas, Bruce ‘Shu Shu’ Carrington (who won the WBC interim featherweight title on that same bill), and multiple-time unified world champion Naoya Inoue are without broadcast coverage in what is perhaps boxing’s biggest market.
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By GlobalDataLooking to the future, Top Rank has reportedly been in talks with the likes of OTT streamer Netflix and media giant Warner Bros. Discovery (which owns the TNT sport linear channel and the HBO Max streaming service), although neither bore fruit.
With Top Rank founder and stalwart promoter Arum turning 94 years old before 2025 is over, establishing a new broadcast platform for the promotion will be vital to ensuring continuity should he have to step back from the promotion at any point.
Beyond Top Rank, what this perhaps represents for the future of boxing is even bigger. Indeed now that Top Rank’s ESPN deal has lapsed, none of boxing’s major promotions have linear TV deals in the US, instead eschewing these in favor distribution deals with OTT platforms such as DAZN.
DAZN already boasts US rights to the likes of Eddie Hearn’s UK-based promotion Matchroom, his rival Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, and even upstart influencer boxing venture Misfits.
For ESPN’s part, the broadcaster may not be done with boxing just yet. With a new boxing joint venture from TKO and Saudi Arabian events company Sela in the offing, ESPN could return boxing to linear TV in the near future.
ESPN already has an established relationship with TKO via the UFC MMA promotion, which it has broadcast for a number of years.
However, UFC and ESPN remain locked in protracted negotiations for a future TV contract that may never materialize, and with Saudi Public Investment Fund arm SURJ holding a significant stake in DAZN, that may be a more natural destination for TKO Boxing, meaning a return for the sport to US televisions may never materialize.
