On 29 August, one of the feistiest upstarts in modern boxing will celebrate a fifth anniversary.
On the same date in 2021, Most Valuable Promotions’ headline bout for its inaugural show in Cleveland, Ohio, featured co-founder and online influencer Jake Paul taking on MMA fighter Tyron Woodley in the boxing ring.
MVP’s second event, just under four months later in Tampa, Florida, was a Paul-Woodley rematch.
For a long time, MVP’s most notable event featured Paul – regarded as the face of YouTuber boxing – fighting Mike Tyson.
It came at a time when Tyson was so far over the hill that the hill could not be seen in the rearview mirror.
MVP’s reputation developed as it put together cards with names and output that were anathema to boxing purists.
The five-year anniversary card, however, shows a side of MVP which has emerged alongside what some would consider its gaudiness.
And perhaps what takes place this weekend offers a better indication of the promotion’s future than the fights that have gone before.
The main card features five women’s bouts, headlined by Mikaela Mayer taking on Chantelle Cameron to unify the WBA, WBC and WBO light-middleweight belts.
The primary support will showcase Caroline Dubois defending her WBC and WBO lightweight titles against Amelia Moore.
MVP, for years dismissed by critics as a snot-nosed upstart of promotion, could now be regarded as a major player and the primary UK promoter of women’s boxing.
“Respect, I think, is the biggest change. I’ve seen and felt it,” Dubois told BBC Sport.
“I remember coming into the scene of the sporting world and if you say you’re a female boxer, people will look at you like ‘ah’ – but now people are like ‘OK, let’s see you fight’ – it’s not a joke, a gimmick, a side caricature. It’s part of the real deal.”
