By David Greisman
This past Saturday, Top Rank fighters were active at a pair of events – even though the company has been without a major broadcasting partner since this past summer, when its relationship with ESPN concluded.
At one show, run in Puerto Rico by the storied promotional company, Xander Zayas unified two junior middleweight titles in the main event with a split decision over Abass Baraou in front of more than 12,000 fans. A few other Top Rank fighters competed on the undercard.
At another show, put on in New York City by Matchroom Boxing, Top Rank’s Teofimo Lopez lost his junior welterweight championship to Shakur Stevenson (who parted with Top Rank in 2024) in the main event, while the company’s Bruce Carrington captured a featherweight title with a knockout of Carlos Castro, and stablemate Keyshawn Davis debuted at junior welterweight by stopping Jamaine Ortiz.
Lopez vs. Stevenson was a pay-per-view available on DAZN, a streaming service that Matchroom and other promoters have deals with. Zayas vs. Baraou, meanwhile, was on the Top Rank Classics channel carried by a number of FAST services – free, ad-supported streaming TV – such as The Roku Channel, Tubi and Vizio.
Top Rank has needed to be both creative and collaborative in lieu of network money. While that has a bearing on how often its fighters can compete, Carrington says he is confident in, rather than concerned about, the company that promotes him.
“I’m not worried about Top Rank. They’re going to figure it out,” Carrington, now 17-0 (10 KOs), said Monday on The Ariel Helwani Show. “They’ve been a company that has gone through adversity before. Obviously not this long of a layoff, but, you know, adversity nonetheless.
“I remember one of the main reasons why I signed with them was because of how they handled Covid. They were the ones pushing out fights week after week after week in ‘The Bubble.’ So consistently, way more than any other promotion company that was out at that time. And they were just really thinking fast on their feet. And their longevity. How long they’ve been around, and they’ve been adjusting with the times. I feel like they’re gonna figure it out. So I’m not really worried about it.”
Top Rank does not have any upcoming events listed on its website. Beyond the boxers who just competed over this past weekend and in recent months, eight more of its fighters do have matches scheduled in the coming months.
Junior lightweight titleholder Emanuel Navarrete has a unification bout with Matchroom’s Eduardo Nunez on DAZN on a Matchroom Boxing show on February 28. Junior welterweight prospect Emiliano Vargas will perform on the undercard.
Also, once-beaten junior bantamweight Steven Navarro is set for a small show promoted by Bash Boxing in Burbank, California, on February 14; and lightweight prospect Deric “Scooter” Davis is scheduled for a small show in Maryland on February 21.
Top Rank co-promotes Tyson Fury, Naoya Inoue and Junto Nakatani, who are signed with other companies that lead their events in their respective home countries. So Queensberry Promotions will head up Fury’s comeback bout against Arslanbek Makhmudov on April 11, while Ohashi Promotions and Teiken Promotions would presumably run Inoue’s presumed fight with Nakatani in May.
David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.
