Boxing Wire

Tag: Top Rank

  • Top Rank, DAZN Sign Landmark Multi-Year Streaming Deal

    Top Rank, DAZN Sign Landmark Multi-Year Streaming Deal

    Top Rank Boxing and DAZN have officially signed a landmark multi-year streaming partnership, the two companies announced Wednesday at an event in New York City, ending an eight-month stretch in which Top Rank operated without a major broadcast home.

    The deal will deliver between 8 and 10 live Top Rank fight cards annually to DAZN, with license fees ranging from $1 million to $1.25 million per event — putting the total package value at roughly $10 million per year. DAZN will serve as the exclusive global streaming home for events included in the agreement, with Top Rank also retaining the option to stage events on DAZN’s pay-per-view model.

    The arrangement is considerably smaller in scope than Top Rank’s previous deal with ESPN, which ran for eight years and reportedly paid in the neighborhood of $85 million annually for more than 30 events per year. That partnership concluded following Top Rank’s July 2025 card at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Since then, promoter Bob Arum and company president Todd duBoef explored options including HBO Max before ultimately landing on DAZN.

    Top Rank’s roster includes Teofimo Lopez, Janibek Alimkhanuly, Keyshawn Davis, Abdullah Mason, Bruce Carrington, and Richard Torrez Jr., among others. First events under the new deal are expected to begin as early as May or June 2026.

    For DAZN, the addition of Top Rank further cements its position as a global boxing hub. The streamer already holds long-term deals with Matchroom Boxing — recently extended through 2031 — as well as Golden Boy Promotions and Queensberry Promotions.

    Top Rank’s arrival gives DAZN a significant inventory boost as it competes with new entrants including Zuffa Boxing, backed by UFC parent TKO and airing on Paramount+, and Netflix, which has increasingly staged high-profile one-off boxing events.

    The partnership carries a notable footnote: Arum once publicly dismissed DAZN as the “Dead Zone” back in 2022. The 94-year-old Hall of Fame promoter, who founded Top Rank in 1966, ultimately played a patient long game — and landed on the platform he once mocked.

  • Top Rank Nearing DAZN Deal Amid Matchroom Tensions

    Top Rank Nearing DAZN Deal Amid Matchroom Tensions

    Top Rank is closing in on a new broadcast home. Front Office Sports has confirmed that DAZN is finalizing a multiyear streaming deal with Bob Arum‘s promotion, with an official announcement expected later this week. The news was first reported by Ring Magazine, which has since deleted its original story.

    Update: Top Rank and DAZN’s new partnership is official

    DAZN declined to comment directly. “As company policy, we do not confirm, deny, or comment on market rumours or speculation regarding M&A, partnerships or rights deals,” a DAZN spokesperson told FOS.

    Per The Ring’s original reporting, the deal calls for eight to 10 events per year at license fees of $1 million to $1.25 million per card — a steep drop from the roughly $85 million annually ESPN paid Top Rank under their eight-year partnership, which ended in July 2025.

    DAZN Seeking More Content Amid Matchroom Frustrations

    The Top Rank pursuit isn’t just about adding fights. According to FOS sources, DAZN has grown frustrated with Eddie Hearn‘s Matchroom Boxing and is actively seeking to expand its events inventory as it plays defense against the rising threat of Zuffa Boxing.

    At the heart of the friction is a perception within DAZN that Hearn has been “double-dipping” — placing Matchroom fighters on outside cards while collecting nine figures annually from DAZN. Fighters including Anthony Joshua, Dmitry Bivol, Conor Benn, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, and Jai Opetaia have all competed on Riyadh Season and/or Ring cards. Katie Taylor fought Amanda Serrano twice on Netflix cards under Jake Paul’s MVP banner. Benn and Opetaia have since departed Matchroom for Zuffa.

    In a notable case, Hearn told Alalshikh’s Ring Magazine that a Callum Smith vs. David Morrell fight was expected in Saudi Arabia — only for it to later be announced as a Matchroom card in Liverpool on April 18. DAZN holds a 40% stake in Matchroom.

    A DAZN spokesperson pushed back on the friction narrative. “There’s absolutely no truth in the suggestion that DAZN is frustrated with Matchroom. We have just signed a new five-year deal with Matchroom, and we are very happy with our strong relationship and long-standing partnership.”

    The Broader War: DAZN vs. Zuffa

    The move for Top Rank comes as the boxing broadcast landscape grows increasingly combative. Zuffa Boxing — the joint venture between Saudi Arabia’s Sela and TKO Group Holdings, with leadership including Turki Alalshikh, WWE president Nick Khan, and UFC CEO Dana White — launched on Paramount+ in January and has been aggressively signing talent.

    Zuffa signed Opetaia away from Matchroom in January and made a move on Rodriguez before Matchroom exercised a matching clause. It then signed Benn on a one-fight deal reportedly worth $15 million that Hearn declined to match. The bidding war has spilled into public sniping: White said Hearn “works for his dad,” while Hearn fired back that White’s “dad for many years has been the Fertitta brothers, and now he’s got a new daddy called Turki Alalshikh.” Alalshikh himself weighed in on social media, writing to Hearn: “I am always here for you. And if you call me, unlike Conor Benn, I will answer the phone.”

    Adding Top Rank and its deep roster would give DAZN more leverage in that fight. Arum, 94, famously called DAZN a “Dead-Zone which nobody watches” back in 2022. By late 2024, he had softened considerably: “DAZN are doing a great job in boxing and the people who run DAZN are friends of ours.”

    Top Rank’s Roster Ready to Return

    Top Rank’s stable gives DAZN significant upside despite the modest license fees. Xander Zayas, Emanuel Navarrete, Keyshawn Davis, Bruce Carrington, Emiliano Vargas, and Abdullah Mason headline a roster that has been largely sidelined from consistent live streaming since ESPN’s exit. An official announcement from both sides is expected this week — BoxingWire will update this story when confirmed.