The year has seen a number of promoters face real challenges.
Top Rank parted company with ESPN and no longer have an avenue on UK TV via Sky Sports. Boxxer and Sky Sports parted ways, only for Boxxer to land at the BBC.
However, in the transition they lost the likes of Joshua Buatsi, Ben Whittaker, Viddal Riley and Caroline Dubois.
MVP swept up a huge number of the leading women’s fighters, including Dubois.
PBC had a run of bad luck that saw fighters injured, upset, miss weight, and Canelo Alvarez also put a halt to their working arrangement.
The fall of Tim Tszyu – though the rebuild is underway – undoubtedly hurt No Limit Boxing.
While there has not been a complete power shift, the boxing tides seem to be turning.
Before we count down from numbers five to one, please note that only licensed promoters were under consideration.
5. Tasman Fighters
With cruiserweight king Jai Opetaia leading the charge, Tasman has been able to host three big shows at the Gold Coast Convention Center and while their big heavyweight hope Justis Huni lost to a punch from the blue while well ahead to Fabio Wardley – at late notice and in England, Wardley’s subsequent success indicates that Huni can come again in. Michael Francis is industrious, busy, and relentless in his pursuit of pushing Australian boxers, and they added former world champion Jason Moloney to the stable towards the end of the year.
4. Golden Boy Promotions
A lot rests upon the shoulders of 154lbs star Vergil Ortiz, who might be the next big thing in US boxing. Whether he is or not, and whether Golden Boy gambles that he is against Boots Ennis, remains to be seen. In the lighter weights, they have Ricardo Sandoval and pound-for-pounder Oscar Collazo, they work with Gabriela Fundora, and have a number of second tier contenders and top tier prospects. They also have heavyweight prospect Joshua Edwards, and America needs one of them, not to mention unified cruiserweight king Zurdo Ramirez, who is facing a May blockbuster against 175lbs star David Benavidez.
3. Matchroom
As Eddie Hearn repeatedly says, they are a global promoter, and their footprint is truly extraordinary with shows in the UK, the US, Mexico, Monte Carlo and Ghana to name a few. They also have a hefty roster of talent and big names, from Anthony Joshua and Jaron Ennis to Dmitry Bivol and Katie Taylor. They also worked with Jai Opetaia, Richardson Hitchins, Lewis Crocker and Shakur Stevenson but will also be hoping Bam Rodriguez puts pen to paper on a new deal sooner than later.
2. Teiken Promotions
Eighteen shows in 2025 show the Japanese powerhouse is giving the fans what they want at home, and they – as always seems to be the case – have a number of rising stars quickly coming through the ranks as well as established champions at the highest end of the sport, from Naoya and Takuma Inoue and Junto Nakatani to Seiya Tsutsumi and Tenshin Nasukawa.
1. Queensberry Promotions
There’s little denying that in 21-year-old heavyweight contender Moses Itauma, Queensberry Promotions, led by the 73-year-old Frank Warren, have the keys to one of the hottest young stars in the sport. But they’ve not taken their eye off the ball with a number of deep shows, not least the undisputed heavyweight showdown between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois at a packed Wembley Stadium. They’ve signed just about anything that moves in the banner division, boasting WBO champion Fabio Wardley along with Itauma, WBO No. 1 Lawrence Okolie, former IBF champion Dubois, Agit Kabayel, Zhilei Zhang, Derek Chisora, and their ranks at 175lbs are also positively bulging. They’ve built in Scotland with the emergence of Nathaniel Collins, work with leading super middleweight Hamzah Sheeraz and exciting WBA featherweight champion Nick Ball, as well as lightweight Sam Noakes, whom Abdullah Mason had his hands full with in November.
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
