LAS VEGAS — Company insiders told World Boxing News that we’re learning more about the end-of-year schedule American fight firm Premier Boxing Champions is putting together. Details could be released in the coming week or weeks.
WBN broke the news August 14 that Tim Tszyu’s expected IBF title challenge against incumbent champion Bakhram Murtazaliev will headline an October 19 show in Florida, as the fighters struck an agreement to box in a big super welterweight bout.
There are also the anticipated returns of Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis, David Benavidez, and Errol Spence Jr., and a December event that could feature “a mish-mash of guys who haven’t boxed” for the company yet this year, a PBC source with knowledge of the situation told us.
From September to December, PBC expects to put together at least four but possibly five events which is a level of activity that contrasts the stop-start nature of its transition from Showtime Sports to Amazon Prime Video.
Though there will be box office events, “two to three dates will be on Prime SVOD,” one of our PBC insiders told us.
Subscription Video on Demand is a television model that features programming watched through a standard subscription to Prime Video, rather than behind an additional pay-per-view paywall, as has been the nature with all PBC events so far this year.
The PBC on Prime Video era began in March, with Sebastian Fundora’s blood and guts win over Tszyu. Since then, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez thumped his way to victory over Jaime Munguia, and “Tank’ Davis and Benavidez starred in wins over Frank Martin and Oleksandr Gvozdyk, respectively. These events have all been PPV.
PBC consultant Stephen Espinoza, who is the former president of Showtime Sports, told WBN at the ‘Tank’ event in June that a schedule would be forthcoming.
“I know fans and observers have been really anxious for the pace to pick up. I’m happy to say that’s going to happen imminently,” Espinoza told us ahead of Tank’s brutal win against Martin, which advanced his flawless, unbeaten pro record to 30 wins (28 KOs).
“I think in the next couple of weeks you’ll see some announcements, and by the time we’re looking at August, September, and October, there’ll be a regular cadence of events that are pay-per-view and non pay-per-view.
“I try to preach patience with the fans and observers to say Showtime wasn’t built in a day,” Espinoza told us. “It took 37 years, expecting that level of activity. You know, everyone’s going to be pleased when we amp up” the scheduling of our events on Prime Video, Espinoza said.
It’s almost 10 weeks since the double-header, and PBC is yet to deliver a clear indication in public of what is to come.
Rumors have also swirled online that Al Haymon has no longer been at the forefront of the company he founded in 2015.
Sources close to Haymon told World Boxing News at the start of 2024 that he had taken a step back from the boxing business because of a family emergency.
One of those sources said in February that “all Haymon’s phones [were] turned off” at the time, including his Cleveland cell. “When all his phones went off,” one source told WBN, “I knew something was [wrong].”
That same source said that, “without Haymon, [PBC] could struggle.”
Another PBC source admitted “concerns” earlier in the summer surrounding a haphazard rollout, or “one-off nature of our events.”
The source said: “It’s hard to get real momentum when it’s one date at a time, and we don’t get a sense of continuity.”
Last year, PBC was arguably the Boxing Company of the Year as it was responsible for, by far, the biggest events the sport had seen in 2023 — and WBN covered them all.
‘Tank’ Davis vs Ryan Garcia proved to be a monster at the gate, and at the box office. So much so, that there are talks behind-the-scenes of a rematch, regardless of Garcia’s out-of-the-ring antics, and drugs ban for the performance-enhancer Ostarine. Later in 2023, Terence Crawford produced an all-time great thrashing of Spence in front of one of the most glamorous crowds the sport has seen in its modern era. Additionally, PBC signed ‘Canelo,’ and boxed him against Jermell Charlo in the first of a three-fight PBC swing.
PBC has struggled to match the momentum it had then, so far in 2024. Yet one source at the company told us things are starting to turn around.
“It feels like it’s changing as the regularity of events [on the horizon] is improving, frequency of scheduling, and lead time looks like it’s improving as well.
“Amazon has now gotten comfortable with the rhythm of announcing, promoting, and doing technical back-end at events.”
The source said that though Amazon broadcasts NFL every Thursday night, football’s production and broadcast is “cookie cutter” because everyone involved knows what’s happening even six months ahead of schedule. It’s easier to build a routine in that sport from the start, per the source.
Boxing events are a different beast, the source said. Main events fall out, fighters withdraw due to injury, and things can change at a moment’s notice. PPV events in boxing can have a short lead time compared to football, but Prime Video has now gotten used to this after three events and a busier schedule in the second half of 2024.
“There’s now a comfort level having done it a few times, and so it’s less of a heavy pull,” one source with knowledge of the situation told us. “Amazon has gone through the process now, and it’s second nature.”
Another key factor in the uptick of events that Premier Boxing Champions is preparing to roll out, is to do with Haymon’s return at the company.
Multiple PBC sources have told WBN that Haymon is firmly back in the mix at PBC, and shaping the near-term future of the business.
“He’s back,” one source said.
“His involvement has definitely increased over time,” a second source close to Haymon told WBN. “He is much more involved now than he was in the very first event [in March]. It’s not a coincidence that pace and regularity is now increasing.”
This source also suggested that, while Haymon has temporarily been away from the company for the family emergency, his cell in Cleveland went dark simply because he changed his number after getting spammed with Caller ID spoofing.
Even in Haymon’s time away from the game, PBC shows focused on quality over quantity as it delivered big events showcasing top tier stars from Tszyu vs Fundora, and Canelo vs Munguia, to the Tank-Benavidez doubleheader.
And, despite any stop-start rollout of PBC events, it retained the core of its roster, has two of the sport’s faces in Canelo and ‘Tank,’ and may finally now release that “imminent” schedule with a broadcaster in Prime Video that is more comfortable with the quirks that programming in boxing provides.
With Haymon back, and Prime Video ready to fire on all cylinders, PBC’s end-of-year schedule could look like this:
September 14: Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez vs Edgar Berlanga — super middleweight
October 19: Bakhram Murtazaliev vs Tim Tszyu — super welterweight
November 2: Gervonta Davis returns — lightweight
December TBA: Errol Spence Jr vs Sebastian Fundora — super welterweight
TBD: Manny Pacquiao vs Mario Barrios — welterweight
The first big event of PBC’s fall and winter schedule lands in September when Canelo, one of the faces of the sport, takes on Berlanga in a super middleweight world championship fight.
It is a particular show of force, as the card contains other big names, in big fights, including Erislandy Lara vs Danny Garcia, Stephen Fulton against Carlos Castro, and Caleb Plant and Rolando Romero in separate bouts.
Whether the strength of the card is to go up against a UFC event further along the Las Vegas strip at the $2.3 billion mega-venue The Sphere, or to show Turki Alalshikh and Riyadh Season what big boxing events in the US actually looks like, remains to be seen.
But depth may be something we see again and again through the year as PBC returns the following month with Tszyu’s challenge of Murtazaliev’s IBF crown in Orlando.
PBC is also in the middle of planning for ‘Tank’ Davis to return the following month against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.
Boxing manager Sean Gibbons told us before his fighter Isaac Cruz’s split decision loss to Jose Valenzuela that his plan for ‘Pitbull’ was to box him again in December, before a ‘Tank’ rematch in 2025.
Cruz, according to our sources at PBC, has been in the mix for that second fight with ‘Tank,’ but after the August 3 defeat he may have to wait in line, while rebuilding.
According to one source, Valenzuela has certainly put himself forward for consideration in the November fight.
Speaking prior to Tuesday’s confirmation that Shakur Stevenson will defend his title October 12 against Joe Cordina in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, one PBC source regarded the former Top Rank star as a strong option.
With Teofimo Lopez at welterweight, and Vasiliy Lomachenko failing to express an interest to compete in 2024, it leaves few other candidates.
If Lomachenko really doesn’t want to fight this year, then Valenzuela may find himself moving up the list, one source said.
In December, PBC has a number of options.
Sampson Lewkowicz told World Boxing News earlier this month that, pending recovery from injuries, Benavidez “will fight in December.”
Lewkowicz stressed to us that, if Benavidez has not fully recovered broken ribs, a cut on his eyes, and hand injuries incurred in the Gvozdyk win, then his return will be pushed into 2025.
PBC has Fundora vs Spence as a headline option that month, too. Spence, of course, is one of the fighters PBC has in its roster that is yet to compete this year. One PBC source said this super welterweight world title fight could materialize in December.
Lewkowicz, who represents Fundora, told us August 10 that Spence is one of two options for the WBC and WBO unified champion, depending on whether they box Crawford, or not.
Finally, there is also interest from PBC in staging Manny Pacquiao’s return to the ring.
Pacquiao and Mario Barrios are in agreement to fight one another, according to previous World Boxing News reporting.
Gibbons, the president of MP Promotions, told us the time to do it would be this year, and this year only. Additionally, Barrios is the one fighter they want to return against. Bob Santos, who trains Barrios, told us they were keen to welcome Pacquiao back to the ring, too.
“Barrios vs Pacquiao is being considered” for the schedule, one source at PBC confirmed to WBN.
The source acknowledged it will likely “draw heat” on account of Pacquiao’s age, at 45, and inactivity. Regardless, because of Pacquiao’s status in the sport as a modern great, it’s an “event which will no doubt draw eyeballs,” the source said.
There’s even a chance that Barrios vs Pacquiao, and Fundora vs Spence, could work in tandem as a double-header, like how Davis and Benavidez joined forces for a PBC PPV on Prime Video event in June, another source told us.
Big fights aren’t the only thing PBC is looking to get over the line, as it’s also had “ongoing conversations with a small number of outlets” for a second broadcast deal, one source with knowledge of the talks told World Boxing News.
Though nothing is as imminent as a fall and winter schedule, per se, “there is definitely an interest” from the broadcast industry despite general uncertainty in media, the source added.
Prior to the Prime Video announcement in 2023, which began officially in March this year, PBC sought a linear television deal, and had held tentative discussions with Warner Bros. Discovery to expand the PBC universe.
Warner “has been very aggressive” in the market, the source said, with French Open tennis and Mountain West Football Championship playoffs. NBA rights are meanwhile up in the air because of a lawsuit Warner Bros. Discovery filed after losing media rights to Amazon. The crux of Warner’s lawsuit is that it alleges the NBA breached its contract by declining its new rights deal that aimed to match Prime Video’s.
Warner Bros. Discovery “is a great platform,” according to one source at PBC. The boxing firm, and Warner, continues to have “substantive conversations” about a deal. “It seems like things are gathering momentum and steam,” this source finished.
Considering the fall and winter schedule’s tentpole events, with the possibility of a second broadcast partner in the future, it is easy to see why optimism has replaced concerns behind-the-scenes at PBC.
“Everyone aligned with us has done the biggest revenue generating events in the sport,” one source at PBC told World Boxing News.
“We know what we’re doing, and so it’s hard to kill us.”
Alan Dawson is World Boxing News Lead Writer, a 2 x Sports Journalist of the Year finalist, and 5 x BWAA awards winner. Follow Alan @AlanDawsonSport.
