Fast and furious: PBC keeping talent busy in new DAZN union

Boxing has often been self-sabotaged over the past generation by the protective, selfish hoarding of talent by promoters.

Delaying Floyd Mayweather Jnr versus Manny Pacquiao five years past its ripe date. Letting Terence Crawford’s talent languish versus pedestrian foes when world champions performed on the “other side of the street.”

Dragging out Anthony Joshua versus Tyson Fury, letting Canelo Alvarez versus David Benavidez escape … the list is relentless, agonizing and all to the sport’s detriment.

As DAZN moved this year to declare itself the sport’s global streaming leader by aligning with longtime rival promotions in Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions and Bob Arum’s Top Rank, some skepticism persisted that old habits would die hard despite the meshing of those companies with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing and Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions.

Yet since its alliance with DAZN was formally announced in July, Haymon’s PBC has performed as a steady (and surprising) supplier of fights and fighters to fuel DAZN’s fight-a-week pledge.

Tom Brown, head of PBC’s lead promoter, TGB Promotions, said the opportunity to showcase its robust North American stable of 11 full/interim world champions and soon-to-be title challengers Yoenli Hernandez and Mirco Cuello has driven its willingness to engage in cross-promoted bouts.

“It goes along with us giving our fighters the proper opportunities to fulfill their dreams,” Brown said.”We know it’s a short window to earn a living in this hurt business.”

Since creating the new monthly series “The Fight” with TNT, DAZN has selected three of four main events including a PBC boxer – the debut July 4 card headlined by lightweight titleholder Abdullah Mason versus an emergency replacement opponent produced by PBC, top-10-rated Albert Bell; another lightweight title bout in August featuring PBC’s Lamont Roach Jnr; and last month’s 154lbs title defense by Sebastian Fundora.

After years of ridicule over the matching of its champions against fellow PBC opponents on both HBO, and then Showtime, PBC has put some of its best known commodities in peril, with former three-belt welterweight champion Errol Spence Jnr going to Australia and losing to Tim Tszyu, and WBA welterweight belt holder Rolly Romero surrendering his belt to DAZN-signed promotional free agent Teofimo Lopez Jnr in August.

PBC not hesitating to cross-promote might surprise some past critics, but former Showtime Sports President Stephen Espinoza said it doesn’t surprise him that Haymon has seized upon the “mutuality of the [DAZN] platform” to expand upon past flexibility Haymon showed in cases including the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury trilogy.

“There’s been plenty of blame to go around with ‘the sides of the street,’ with Top Rank [formerly] exclusive to ESPN and Golden Boy and Matchroom on DAZN,” Espinoza said. “It started as a domino falling, and then every other promoter looks at it and is concerned about being locked out, so it became a game of musical chairs, as everybody’s looking for a home while seeing those homes taken off the board.”

The PBC influence has lifted DAZN through the summer and fall months, when longtime partner Golden Boy has provided smaller shows and the second-round-knockout trouncing of Conor Benn by Ryan Garcia in a September pay-per-view. Top Rank’s highlight during the stretch was a lost 154lbs unification by Xander Zayas versus Matchroom’s Jaron “Boots” Ennis and the late-October three-belt unification by 130lbs O’Shaquie Foster.

One industry official labeled this run of cross-promoted fight-making as “unprecedented,” with Brown expressing appreciation to DAZN’s open dates for the continued ability to keep its fighters busy.

“We’re still in the honeymoon phase, but I only see it getting better,” Brown said. “We’ll show them what we can do. … We’re all for working together. … Oscar’s been saying it, and [Top Rank’s Bob] Arum, too.”

Next month, PBC opens DAZN’s December schedule with a pay-per-view in Phoenix headlined by its native Arizona son and three-division champion David Benavidez while also tossing its veteran ex-welterweight titlist Keith Thurman to the Golden Boy wolf that is unbeaten middleweight Vergil Ortiz Jnr, 24-0 (22 KOs), and matching its 140lbs contender Omar Juarez in an underdog assignment versus 2025 Prospect of the Year, Top Rank’s Emiliano Vargas.

Five promoters are represented on the card thus far.

The Ortiz-Thurman bout leads perfectly into the next week’s DAZN main event in Australia pitting PBC’s middleweight titleholder Erislandy Lara of Cuba versus Australia’s former 154lbs titlist Tszyu.

While the alliances have potential to be a saving grace for boxing, some in the industry still foresee resistance in fight-making from managers, fighters and promoters arising in some cases.

“There can still be some general [industry] reticence to give people the fights they want for mysterious reasons,” Espinoza said. “Boxing has, unfortunately, over the last eight to 10 years, got in the habit of sometimes making deals harder than they need to be.

“Getting them all under one platform, I’m sure, helps, but we still need all to be willing to take the tough fights while not constantly looking for a massive nine-figure paycheck.”

DAZN announced Wednesday it’s closing the month with a card that also required a heavy hand from PBC, as the company facilitated the unification pitting welterweight titlist Liam Paro versus another high-profile DAZN signee, Devin Haney, while Haymon and Brown volunteered underdog Abel Ramos for that San Francisco co-main event versus recent welterweight belt holder Brian Norman Jnr.

Additionally, the vibes seem present that PBC will free Fundora for a big undisputed title fight versus the winner of Matchroom’s Ennis-Josh Kelly unified bout expected in January.

“If this is what it takes to make the best fights,” Brown said, “we’re all for it.”