LOS ANGELES – The most grizzled of those in the fight game are free to maintain their skepticism, but Thursday was an afternoon to otherwise let the imagination run wild about all the glorious matches this sport can deliver.
Premier Boxing Champions’ move to DAZN, joining Matchroom, Queensberry and longtime rivals Top Rank and Golden Boy, could create the elixir to lift the sport back to prominence now that these promotions are incentivized as never before to make quality fights.
“We want to serve out-sized value to the boxing audience,” said Britton Hardin, DAZN’s North America head of boxing. “It shows what we’re trying to do at DAZN – bring the best fights, the biggest fight-nights – under one platform so the audience can be super-served.
“This fulfils the promise of everything that boxing can be, when there are no more ‘sides of the streets’ and everyone is walking in the same direction, to serve the community and not be self-contained, to really serve the ‘Ultimate pay-per-view’ subscriber their value.”
PBC’s union with DAZN is temporary for now, starting with the July 25 Errol Spence Jnr-Tim Tszyu 154lbs main event in Sydney, including the August 22 Rolly Romero-Teofimo Lopez WBA welterweight bout in Las Vegas, along with targeted dates of September 19 and October 10, along with a date to be announced in November.
Among the PBC bouts coming are WBC 154lbs champion Sebastian Fundora making a mandatory defense versus unbeaten Ermal Hadribeaj, WBC interim middleweight champion Jesus Ramos Jnr versus his mandatory, Meiirim Nursultanov, WBA featherweight champion Brandon Figueroa meeting No. 3 contender, Tomoki Kameda, and IBF bantamweight champion Jose Salas Reyes fighting his mandatory, Michael Angeletti.
DAZN’s Hardin called those bouts “a small glimpse” into what’s coming, promising “the audience has no idea the exciting nights that are ahead of them.”
Boxing has long been beset by fights that longed to be made stopped by business relationships with adversarial promoters or rival broadcasters, such as HBO and Showtime back in the day.
Most famously, the Floyd Mayweather Jnr-Manny Pacquiao super-fight of 2015 should’ve been made in 2010, and many other bouts were never brought to life because of the strife.
Tom Brown, head of TGB Promotions, which serves as the official fight-maker for powerful manager Al Haymon’s PBC, said, “This partnership will provide unbelievable opportunities for all our fighters, and create a pathway to making the biggest fights possible.”
The cynics who know the sport best will be universally chiming, “Prove it,” but as the new Zuffa Boxing promotion headed by UFC CEO/President Dana White and WWE head Nick Khan provides fierce competition by staging fights on Paramount+ and attempting to raid talent, including Thursday’s signing of four-division champion Shakur Stevenson as the PBC news conference was happening, there should be a strong desire to craft a slew of mega-, cross-promoted fights.
Fundora spoke of wanting a 2027 shot at Matchroom’s new two-belt 154lbs champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis, Figueroa said he wants to stand as the first unified featherweight champion in 16 years by defeating Top Rank’s WBC champion Bruce “ShuShu” Carrington, and Ramos said his “dream fight” is a 160lbs meeting with unbeaten WBC interim 154lbs champion Vergil Ortiz of Golden Boy.
“The other champions at 154 are all on DAZN… now is the most realistic time to make unified title fights,” Fundora said. “All these guys will be fighting. Jaron Ennis is the one calling me out, so he’d be the guy I want to face soon.”
Fundora said he was impressed by Ennis’ activity but said his appetite for the showdown was whet as he watched former champion Xander Zayas rock Ennis before victory was declared by TKO.
“I saw the third round,” Fundora said.
DAZN is presently working to make an Ennis-Ortiz fight for the fall.
Reyes has been named a potential fall opponent of Matchroom’s three-division champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez.
“I’m very excited to be in this position, especially with ‘Bam’ Rodriguez moving up to this division. We have the mandatory fight first, but eventually the ‘Bam’ Rodriguez fight will be coming and I will be ready.”
DAZN was in a celebratory mood even before the formal announcement when it learned 3.2 million viewers were reached on its joint debut of the new monthly boxing series, ‘The Fight’ on TNT, that included title defenses by Carrington and Cleveland’s WBO lightweight champion Abdullah Mason of Top Rank.
In a prepared statement, DAZN Group CEO Shay Segev said, “PBC’s agreement with DAZN is a landmark moment for boxing, particularly in the U.S., where the sport has such a passionate and deeply engaged fanbase.
“This partnership brings one of America’s most influential boxing brands onto DAZN and strengthens our position as the premier destination for the biggest fighters, promoters and events in the sport. As the global home of boxing, DAZN is committed to expanding access, elevating the fan experience and delivering the fights that matter most to audiences in the U.S. and around the world.”
