The new year has kicked off with a significant bang for the sweet science with news of multiple TV deals to show live boxing shows across the globe.
Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions announced this week that his company has struck a deal with US broadcast powerhouse ESPN to show a significant portion of their events through 2017.
But elsewhere in the US, the Premier Boxing Champions television series has also announced a stacked early 2017 line up that includes multiple deals with the likes of Bounce TV, Showtime and many others.
ESPN are also expected to show some PBC fights to make boxing on TV in 2017 Stateside even stronger.
HBO are slowly but surely announcing their lineup in the States this year as we speak, too.
But it’s the booming UK market that continues to prove to be a thriving one for big time boxing at the moment.
So much so that during the week renowned operator Richard Schaefer announced a new British joint promotional venture with former heavyweight champion David Haye – promising big news on a broadcast partner soon.
Then you’ve got the continued commitment to the sport of boxing from Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland.
They have two pay per view events in the coming months alone involving David Haye vs Tony Bellew and of course the 90,000 Wembley stadium bonanza between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko.
Only last night broadcast giant ITV showed live free to air boxing on ITV 4 in a prime time Saturday night slot between 8-11pm local time.
This was of course a precursor to their first ever pay per view test in boxing next month, when they will be the platform for Chris Eubank Jr’s latest outing for an IBO middleweight title.
Last but certainly not least, how can I not forget the new deal between BT Sport and BoxNation that is expected to become clearer in the next couple of weeks regarding the fight schedule.
There will be reportedly over 20 plus extra live boxing shows added to the British boxing calendar this year as part of the joint deal.
Not a bad time to be a boxing fan, eh?
As long as the quality of matchmaking is in line with the quality of broadcasters involved once again, 2017 should logically speaking be a very satisfying one for fight fans.
Boxing on TV in 2017 certainly has a lot of dates. Now roll on the match ups.
(Top image source and credit: Lawrence Lustig)
