Taking advantage of boxing media being in Las Vegas for Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Conor McGregor, Top Rank Boxing and ESPN have announced a four-year partnership, which promises to “bring boxing back into the mainstream.” Financial details were not disclosed, but unlike Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, it’s not a time-buy arrangement, and it essentially shuts the door for good on Top Rank’s relationship with HBO. The deal includes 16 cards per year on ESPN, although we will occasionally see some bouts on pay-per-view. Additional anchor programming, content on an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, plus access to the Top Rank archives is all part of this package.
Bob Arum: UFC owner Ari Emanuel tried to purchase Top Rank fight library
