According to The Ring reporter Keith Idec, the deal is expected to be officially announced this week. The agreement will provide Top Rank with between eight and ten events annually, with DAZN paying license fees ranging from $1 million to $1.25 million per show.
Negotiations between the two sides had been ongoing for more than a year. Talks began well before Top Rank’s exclusive eight-year broadcast deal with ESPN concluded following the July 26 card staged at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Top Rank president Todd duBoef also explored potential partnerships with other streaming platforms, including HBO Max, before the DAZN agreement was finalized.
The financial scale of the new arrangement is smaller than the previous ESPN partnership. ESPN reportedly paid Top Rank roughly $90 million per year for a minimum of 30 shows across ESPN and ESPN+. Approximately $84 million of that annual budget covered license fees, while about $6 million went toward production costs.
Even so, the new deal gives Top Rank a platform to increase activity after staging relatively few shows during the past several months. The agreement also allows flexibility for Top Rank fighters to appear on larger DAZN cards backed by Riyadh Season and The Ring.
Top Rank continues to maintain one of the deepest rosters in the sport. Among the fighters currently under contract are Janibek Alimkhanuly, Xander Zayas, Abdullah Mason, Raymond Muratalla, Emanuel Navarrete, O’Shaquie Foster, Rafael Espinoza, Brian Norman Jr., Robson Conceicao, Richard Torrez Jr., Jared Anderson, Delante Johnson, Rohan Polanco and rising prospect Emiliano Vargas.
Before the new deal was completed, Top Rank and ESPN also explored the possibility of continuing their partnership on a reduced scale.
Meanwhile, ESPN recently struck a separate agreement with Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions on March 6.
The addition of Top Rank further strengthens DAZN’s position in the boxing market. The streaming service already holds major promotional partnerships with Matchroom Boxing and Queensberry Promotions, while Golden Boy Promotions has also regularly staged events on the platform.
