Top Rank are just prospect builders, nothing else

Friday Night Fights was cancelled because no one watched it. It was averaging less than 400k viewers at the end, with some shows in the 200k viewers range, a 0.1 rating. ESPN didn't give up on boxing - they'd spent serious money to get the Arreola-Stiverne fight on ESPN. Fans gave up on FNF The reason they gave up on it ( fans ) was because their shows wouldn’t start on time and then they would kill it prematurely Also I recall sometimes J cutting out the ending so they can show Sport enter etc etc etc

They have the resources but just not for boxing They made that quite clear when they canned Friday night Fights Friday Night Fights was cancelled because no one watched it. It was averaging less than 400k viewers at the end, with some shows in the 200k viewers range, a 0.1 rating. ESPN didn't give up on boxing - they'd spent serious money to get the Arreola-Stiverne fight on ESPN. Fans gave up on FNF

Yeah ESPN have far more mainstream sports like the NBA for example. Boxing is essentially an afterthought. Exactly They’ve even jumped on the NHL Imagine that at one point the NHL used to be an afterthought

They have the resources but just not for boxing They made that quite clear when they canned Friday night Fights Yeah ESPN have far more mainstream sports like the NBA for example. Boxing is essentially an afterthought.

I just think US boxing is on its knees too atm. If you look at their better cards, they’re happening in Saudi, Japan, Australia etc. HBO and Showtime leaving has really hurt the US scene. ESPN don’t have the budget. They have the resources but just not for boxing They made that quite clear when they canned Friday night Fights

I just think US boxing is on its knees too atm. If you look at their better cards, they’re happening in Saudi, Japan, Australia etc. HBO and Showtime leaving has really hurt the US scene. ESPN don’t have the budget.

One year left on ESPNs contract with Top Rank. Definitely looks like they are going to pull the plug...

Their cheap cards really suck lately. The only interesting thing is watching for guys who will potentially be good in the future. Basically Shobox. Looks like that. Fighting for the Saudis is now the big leagues. Top Rank for prospects, and PBC if you want don't really want to fight the best. Always was a witness protection racket tbh

ESPN has been in financial difficulty for a few years now - I'm sure Top Ranks budget is very limited. Seven figures for the whole year... HBO used to spend that in a month. Puerto Rico is no longer producing top talent, but the demand from the market on the east coast is there, so Top Rank takes very mediocre guys and hypes as "the next Trinidad/Coto" only for them to look like shit once they step up. It's cynical, but they're just exploiting a demand. As for the showcase fights - yeah, most of them are showcases. But that's been the case with every promoter for as long as I can remember. Top Rank has also delivered a lot of good fights since the ESPN deal. Top Rank also tried to do shows of competitive matchups of no-name guys during COVID, and those did really poorly. The fact of the matter is that these exclusive content deals with the network are really bad for the sport, but they're here to stay as long as the money is there for them to happen - HBO tried to keep the model of buying individual fights from each promoter and what happened? They went out of business because all the major promoters signed exclusive deals, and they were left doing cards with Kathy Duva and Lou Dibella's eastern-europeans that no one was watching.

The sooner he dies, the better. Needs to hurry up. Maybe Top Rank dies with him That wouldn’t be good for anyone imo

I don't know how much they're really involved in Japan either. Bob is Inoue's co-promoter but Monster's main promoter is Ohashi. Seems more like Top Rank has US distribution rights to those mainly and get some of their guys on those cards from time to time. Well the fact they show those cards is already a plus

I don't see Adames vs Gausha, for example, being on PPV if they were TR fighters. Does PBC even have anything non PPV currently? Adames vs Gausha seems totally like a PPV undercard quality fight anywhere aside from Saudi. Haney-Loma had Valdez vs Lopez II on it. Same pointless stuff.

Hmmm , that wouldn’t surprise me and would make sense The shows have gotten worse but some have been pretty good especially the Japanese cards I don't know how much they're really involved in Japan either. Bob is Inoue's co-promoter but Monster's main promoter is Ohashi. Seems more like Top Rank has US distribution rights to those mainly and get some of their guys on those cards from time to time.

What differentiates it from PBC is that most of their semi-big fights are on regular subscriptions. Fights that would have been PPV on PBC. I don't see Adames vs Gausha, for example, being on PPV if they were TR fighters. How TR manages to make fighters accept fights on non-PPV is pretty impressive. Good fughin point There would be hundreds of posts if it was a ppv bashing it but for free I won’t argue that much Anything I don’t have to pay for is great imo

What differentiates it from PBC is that most of their semi-big fights are on regular subscriptions. Fights that would have been PPV on PBC. I don't see Adames vs Gausha, for example, being on PPV if they were TR fighters. How TR manages to make fighters accept fights on non-PPV is pretty impressive.

I wonder if they got their budget slashed maybe? Hmmm , that wouldn’t surprise me and would make sense The shows have gotten worse but some have been pretty good especially the Japanese cards

That I agree Bobfather gonna pass with his money lol I wonder if they got their budget slashed maybe?

Fury-Usyk and Bivol-Beterbiev both needed Saudi involvement. Top Rank are cheap. That I agree Bobfather gonna pass with his money lol

Fury-Usyk and Bivol-Beterbiev both needed Saudi involvement. Top Rank are cheap.

Their cheap cards really suck lately. The only interesting thing is watching for guys who will potentially be good in the future. Basically Shobox. Some yes , some shows no but what can you do when you spin everything as one Meaning maybe the Bobfather should start naming his shows kind of like Shobox , we knew what we were getting