For some time now we at Boxing News and Views have been proving boxing is doing well and now the proof is really starting to hit.
Since Turki Alalshikh in Saudi Arabia got into boxing around a year ago the best boxers have been fighting the best again.
At the same time more big name MMA and former UFC fighters have been having professional boxing matches too, switching to boxing.
Now, as Boxing Kingdom on X reports, among others at the moment, the UFC is reportedly experiencing significant declines in pay per view sales as the ESPN deal in America may not be the best match for the pair anymore.
Time will tell on that though. On a quick boxing note, Top Rank’s ESPN deal is also up this year and although they have put on some good fights, some of the Top Rank boxing output has not been good at all — at all.
ESPN surely are looking for only the smartest and best people in boxing moving forward in the future in all aspects whatever they do.
Bob Arum is a legendary promoter, Dana White for us is the best fight promoter in combat sports history, but with respect, neither at times have been good enough for ESPN — the worldwide leader in sport who must focus this year and in the years ahead to improve as well — in an important time for professional sport worldwide.
One thing is for certain, as UFC boss Dana White gets ready to get more into boxing with Turki Alalshikh and Nick Khan, and others, a distribution deal will be needed.
If not ESPN in TKO Boxing or for the UFC any longer, it will be interesting to see what happens in terms of maybe someone like Netflix, DAZN or YouTube, as we’ve proven before, are the new age of TV where everything is now moving online — as online media continues to grow in the East and West at a huge rate in 2025 and beyond.
Old linear TV, old newspapers, radio and even old legacy online brands like BBC, CNN, New York Times, The Guardian and Al Jazeera continue to fade away in terms of people not trusting any of the above five anymore.
New media has well and truly arrived in 2025.
Good for the sport of boxing too.
