Boxing is officially off the air. For the first time in over eight decades, there will be no more boxing on broadcast or cable TV in the United States, marking the end of an era that began in the early 1940s.
Top Rank’s final ESPN card, headlined by Xander Zayas vs Jorge Garcia, brought the curtain down on the last standing linear television deal in the sport.
The historic broadcast aired Saturday night, with veteran promoter Bob Arum ringside, closing a chapter few expected would be the final one.
The End of an 80-Year Era
Respected boxing writer and former Lead World Boxing News correspondent Dan Rafael summed it up bluntly, “The last Top Rank event of its ESPN contract airs Saturday. After that, there’ll be no regularly scheduled boxing on linear TV in the U.S., for the first time essentially since the early 1940s.
“Shame on the stewards of the sport who let it happen.”
From CBS to NBC, HBO to Showtime, and most recently ESPN, FOX, FS1, and Spanish-language outlets, boxing once held a powerful grip on American living rooms.
Now, network schedules erased boxing, a victim of what Rafael called “too much crap” being served up by promoters unwilling to deliver value.
“The powers that be didn’t provide outlets with value for their millions,” Rafael continued. “And after eight years, that’s a wrap on Top Rank on ESPN.”
Crystina Poncher, Top Rank’s longtime commentator, paid an emotional tribute to the end of the era.
“The last show on ESPN, and of course, there’s Bob Arum, sitting ringside for the very first fight of the night. As much as things change, some things remain the same.
“It’s been my absolute pleasure and a dream come true. Thank you all.”
Boxing’s Digital Future: Streaming Services Take Over
Arum, now 93, led Top Rank through boxing’s transition from network TV to pay-per-view, then from cable to streaming. But even he couldn’t stop the bleeding as traditional television slowly abandoned the sport it once embraced.
With Showtime out, FOX inactive, HBO long gone, and now ESPN out of the boxing business, the sport has entered an unprecedented digital-only phase in the United States.
The only place to watch elite U.S. boxing now? Streaming services like DAZN, Netflix, BLK Prime, and PPV.com are available for those willing to pay a subscription fee.
A sad indictment, say many in the industry, of boxing’s failure to keep up with the times and respect its audience.
As WBN has warned for years, if you continue to feed fans mismatches, they’ll eventually turn the channel. Now, sadly, the networks have done it for them.
DAZN appears to be the winner in the commotion surrounding Top Rank’s future. The early frontrunner seems to be Amazon Prime, but as Arum explained to Curran Bhatia, the longtime promotion aims to be available on more than one service.
“We are going to work with a big streaming service,” said Arum. “We are currently negotiating a deal. Also, an over-the-air network. Going forward, we’ll have two or three outlets,” confirmed the gummy-eating Hall of Famer.
