Building on a relationship that started around the FIFA Club World Cup in soccer, DAZN and TNT Sports will now partner on boxing starting this summer in a move that will help bolster the sport’s previously diminishing presence on linear TV in the U.S.
The sides will work on a new monthly boxing series called “The Fight” with athletes who will come from the stables of promoters who have deals with DAZN, including Top Rank Boxing, Matchroom Boxing, Golden Boy Promotions and Queensberry Promotions, according to Thursday’s announcement.
The deal, which is only for the U.S. market, will start on Saturday, July 4, and fights will air on TNT and DAZN platforms. Details on the first fight card in terms of matchups or venue were not announced.
TNT and DAZN previously worked together during the Club World Cup last summer, and the streaming platform ran a boxing-themed ad at the time. That original deal between the streamer and WBD network caught the eye of Top Rank president Todd DuBoef when his company was in discussions with DAZN last year, as its media rights contract with ESPN was expiring.
“Us seeing what they were able to do with the Club World Cup here in the U.S. was very important,” DuBoef said. “How they shared rights and looked to not hold rights and keep it small for an island, but to look to join forces with other people and put the Club World Cup rights on Univision and TNT -- and I think that was really forward thinking and very positive for the overall awareness of the sport.”
In prepared remarks, Luis Silberwasser, chairman and CEO of TNT Sports, said the partnership will “allow TNT Sports to be a player in this growing sport -- expanding the reach of these events and the moments surrounding them -- to an even broader audience.”
