Top Rank Boxing & ESPN Deal

[FrankieNYC]

MELTZER:
Top Rank and ESPN announced a new deal with ESPN getting 54 boxing shows per year on a seven-year contract plus shoulder programming and classic fights.
There will be 18 live events per year on ESPN, 12 live prime time events on ESPN+, 24 out of prime time international events on ESPN+ plus all undercards will be on ESPN+.
This seems like a similar deal to UFC but even more events.
ESPN+ will also have a weekly talk show with Dan Rafael, have the Top Rank library of classic fights and VOD access to ESPN Top Rank events.

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Seems like ESPN is going all in with Combat Sports
That is a good thing

 

[Sheepdog]

54 cards per year, eh? Most of those events you'll be wishing you were watching the guy who beat CM Punk vs a Guatemalan uber driver on the fightpass prelims of UFC Burlington instead.

 

[GSPTrainingInAPool]

54 sounds like a lot. UFC did 38 in 2017 which sounds like a lot too.

Don't follow boxing at all, do they have the depth to pull of 54 legit events??

 

[regular john]

At the very least lower level boxing is still technical af and looks like real boxing while mma outside of the very elite level is often painfully sloppy.