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Conlan vs. Baluta, Mthalane vs. Edwards Doubleheader Announced, April 30
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BY RANDOM HITS
Published Fri Mar 26, 2021, 05:11 PM EDT
The London spotlight will shine on Belfast's Michael “Mick” Conlan and South African great Moruti Mthalane from Copper Box Arena on Friday, April 30.
Mthalane, who is undefeated since 2008, will defend his IBF flyweight world title in the main event against London native Sunny Edwards. In the co-feature, longtime featherweight contender Conlan will make his junior featherweight debut in a 12-rounder against noted spoiler Ionut Baluta.
Promoted by Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, Mthalane-Edwards and Conlan-Baluta will stream live and exclusively in the United States on ESPN+ at 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. Undercard bouts are scheduled to begin live on ESPN+ starting at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT.
“This is a big step up for Mick, as Baluta has pulled off quite a few upsets and is motivated to do so once again,” said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum. “Mick is close to a world title shot, and I expect him to be at his very best April 30. I am also pleased that American fight fans will have an opportunity to watch the sensational Mthalane, who is in tough against the young Edwards.”
Conlan (14-0, 8 KOs) is back after a disappointing 2020 that started with the COVID-related cancellation of his annual St. Patrick’s Day bout in New York and ended with an ankle injury suffered while training in November. He knocked out former world title challenger Sofiane Takoucht last August and now sets his focus on the junior featherweight division. He is ranked No. 1 by the WBO and No. 8 by the WBA, and he could be in line for a world title shot with a victory over Baluta (14-2, 3 KOs), a Romanian who is used to overcoming long odds. Last March, Baluta stunned former junior featherweight world champion TJ Doheny via eight-round unanimous decision, and six months later, he knocked out Conlan’s 2016 Irish Olympic teammate Davey Oliver Joyce in the third round.
Conlan said, "I'm very excited to get back in the ring against Ionut Baluta on April 30. I know how tough of a fighter Baluta is, but I've been training hard since shortly after my last win in August and will be well prepared for victory. I'm looking forward to putting on a great show and can't wait to get back in the ring."
Mthalane, 38, won his first world title in November 2009 with a unanimous decision over Julio Cesar Miranda for the vacant IBF crown. He cemented his world-class status with successful defenses over countryman Zolani Tete (TKO 5) and current WBO bantamweight world champion John Riel Casimero (TKO 5). He reclaimed the IBF world title in July 2017 with a narrow decision win over Muhammad Waseem and has since defeated a trio of Japanese challengers: Masahiro Sakamoto (TKO 10), Masayuki Kuroda (UD) and Akira Yaegashi (TKO 9).
Edwards (15-0, 4 KOs) has fought his last two bouts at junior bantamweight, but he returns to flyweight for a crack at one of boxing’s most celebrated champions. He last fought at flyweight in September 2019, dominating Rosendo Hugo Guarneros to win the vacant IBF International and WBO Intercontinental straps.
"Moruti is the most criminally underrated fighter, having not lost in 13 years, and he is a proper, proper threat," Edwards said. "This is no gimme or easy world title fight — it is very, very far from that. I asked for this fight and, if you look back at press conferences or interviews, you can see that I have wanted it for some time. In my head, this is what was coming to me and it is finally here, and I have got what I wanted.”
wow devon's brother got stopped
How DAZN — once left for dead — retooled and rebounded with boxing’s best schedule
By Mike Coppinger 5h ago11
When the pandemic shoved the collective sporting world into chaos last March, DAZN was arguably the network that most felt COVID’s wrath.
After all, DAZN’s business model relied entirely on subscribers paying a monthly (or yearly) fee. And with live sports halted by the pandemic indefinitely, there was no reason for those monthly subscribers to continue reaching into their wallets.
The subscriber base DAZN built through boxing’s top star, Canelo Alvarez, and other pugilistic programming rapidly declined, sending senior officials at the streaming service into damage control. The move: DAZN became the first major network to stop payments on right fees to sports leagues, including the English Premier League and Major League Baseball.
The fights stopped, too, naturally.
Many wondered if DAZN would ever rebound from the crisis just as the platform was beginning to roll out its global service. Then it went from bad to worse. DAZN attempted to alter the parameters of Canelo’s landmark 10-fight, $350 million deal. Alvarez rebuffed those attempts and a lawsuit was launched.
Over the summer, DAZN quietly underwent a leadership overhaul and the moves have started to pay off handsomely. Gone are the days of nearly eight-figure license fees for solid matchups that don’t truly move the needle (see Jose Ramirez-Maurice Hooker and Mikey Garcia-Jessie Vargas).
In its place, at least so far, appears to be responsible spending on compelling action fights where the result resonates throughout the boxing industry.
DAZN stormed out of the gate with a scintillating scrap between rising star Ryan Garcia and Luke Campbell in January. The social media sensation scored a seventh-round TKO and proved the hype isn’t without merit.
One month later, DAZN delivered a title doubleheader that featured plenty of action in Brian Castano-Patrick Teixiera and Joseph Diaz Jr.-Shavkat Rakhimov.
Most importantly, DAZN emerged from the Canelo lawsuit unscathed and welcomed him back to the fold in December with a victory over Callum Smith. This time, Alvarez was fighting under the Matchroom Sport banner after securing his release from Golden Boy (Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom and Oscar De La Hoya’s GBP are the two promoters who hold exclusive rights deals with DAZN).
Alvarez remained with DAZN for a February tune-up against Avni Yilidirm and will meet Billy Joe Saunders on May 5 in a high-level fight that promises to be a serious subscription driver (already, sources said, DAZN has welcomed back a large swath of the subscribers it lost during the pandemic on the strength of two Canelo fights.) Until then, there are plenty more intriguing matchups on boxing’s best schedule including Saturday’s heavyweight rematch between Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin after the Russian shocked Whyte with a brutal KO last year.
Dillian Whyte will look to rebound from shocking upset loss to Alexander Povetkin this weekend. (Matchroom Boxing)
Once left for dead during the pandemic, DAZN is now thriving under new leadership, and where it was once available in nine markets, it’s now accessible everywhere across the globe. That surely means less funds will be allocated to fights that emanate stateside in the coming years.
“Everyone thought they were done but look, you’re starting something that’s different and you’re starting from scratch; not the easiest thing to do,” said promoter Lou DiBella, who spent 11 years as an HBO Sports executive at a time when the network ruled boxing. “They get hit with the pandemic, so you can see why everyone thought it was a dark future but the guy (DAZN owner and billionaire Len Blavatnik) has a really successful history as a businessman.
“They’ve made adjustments to leadership and were willing to take a good look at things and modify their business plan to what they learned with a real global outlook. … I didn’t think that they were dead, honestly, but it’s clear now with a different emphasis they seem to really have got their legs under them.”
When DAZN rolled out its service stateside in the summer of 2018, it did so with former ESPN President John Skipper at the helm.
Regarded for his charm and dealmaking during his five-year run at the top of ESPN, Skipper was now tasked with building DAZN into a powerhouse. There were obvious obstacles from the start.
DAZN would attempt to compete with legacy networks like ESPN and FOX Sports, only it charged a fee and no one even knew how to pronounce the name (Dah-zin? No, no, I think you mean Da Zone.)
The streaming service was frozen out from buying ad space on practically any network that was seen as a competitor, making it all the more difficult to spread the word. (Remember those Michael Buffer commercials proclaiming PPV is dead?)
The platform, at least in the U.S., relied almost entirely on boxing. The sweet science was a natural entrance point with its inexpensive rights fees compared to the major sports and also, it was readily available.
Eddie Hearn, the charismatic Englishman whose father, Barry, is a longtime staple of the sport, set out for the U.S., with dreams of taking over America.
Many of the deals Skipper constructed proved cumbersome and the criticism grew louder that DAZN desperately needed a true “boxing guy” to provide quality control on the fights it purchased. The fights were too often underwhelming or DAZN paid way above market value for the matchup, or both. And when the fights were good, the streaming service usually overpaid, too. Then the changes came.
Matchroom and DAZN now work much more closely than before, sources said, to ensure that when fights are approved, both sides are happy with it (along with the associated license fee).
Golden Boy, now without the sport’s marquee attraction, has been pressed to make far better fights and has responded with some excellent matchups.
The two men calling the shots at DAZN now: Ed McCarthy and Ed Breeze. McCarthy, a U.K.-based attorney, became the COO last summer. Breeze, formerly an EVP in DAZN’s media rights division, is now Head of Boxing.
Breeze was involved in deals with the World Boxing Super Series, Gennadiy Golovkin, Golden Boy and Matchroom, and in his new role, he leads conversations with Hearn and Golden Boy President Eric Gomez with oversight from McCarthy. Essentially, Breeze is tasked with overseeing matchmaking and the DAZN boxing schedule.
“We just want to make sure that we’re making best use of our money and (our promotional partners are) making best use of what’s available to them,” Breeze said. “It comes with more rigor and attention to make sure everyone is doing what’s best for each other.
“If we are too passive and let them create the agenda too much then it just won’t work for DAZN. I’m looking for a proper partnership that works for everyone. … The biggest learning curve is resetting relationships that need resetting but in a very positive way.”
Eddie Hearn calls DAZN the “future of boxing.” (Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)
DAZN reset plenty more internally, too. Altogether, the moves resulted in greater clarity and the kind of frequent contact with promoters necessary to ensure greater cost control and better programming quality.
Beginning last summer, Skipper took a back seat behind the scenes. He constructed the Alvarez deal along with the Golden Boy Promotions partnership that accompanied it and also was responsible for signing GGG to a six-fight deal worth nine figures.
In February, Kevin Mayer replaced Skipper and is now chairman of the board for DAZN. Mayer was formerly in charge of direct-to-consumer at Disney (ESPN+, Disney+) and was also CEO of TikTok. Skipper remains on the board but stepped down from his role to focus on his new venture, MeadowLark Media.
Simon Denyer, the CEO whose close relationship with Hearn helped shepherd a multi-year deal with Matchroom Sport (along with the rights on a per-fight basis with heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua), departed DAZN in June.
In his place arrived James Rushton in June as acting CEO (he has since risen to co-CEO). There were plenty more changes, too. Joe Markowski, who often took the lead with the media and routinely spoke at news conferences, shifted from Head of North America to a new role in charge of the global platform.
And that’s where much of the emphasis now lies. When DAZN streamed GGG’s title fight with Kamil Szeremeta, it saw a spike in subscribers from Poland, the hometown of the challenger. Same for Bulgaria when their native son Kubrat Pulev challenged heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in December.
For now at least, the vast majority of DAZN’s boxing programming is centered around the U.S., even as Matchroom’s longtime partnership with U.K., broadcaster Sky Sports is set to expire in July. DAZN has been aggressive in trying to obtain exclusive rights to Hearn’s vast U.K., stable. Of course, boxing is far more popular in the U.K. than in the U.S.
DAZN still boasts the biggest war chest in boxing, and that makes the platform uniquely positioned to attempt to cure many of the longstanding issues facing the sport. We all know the best rarely fight the best in boxing. A leading reason is that losers are unfairly punished in boxing (far lower paydays and less options after a setback) unlike in the UFC where a defeat doesn’t seem to matter nearly as much.
“If you provide entertainment on DAZN, we don’t mind if you lose, it doesn’t matter,” said Breeze. “It shouldn’t affect your career. … We just want to see compelling action. That’s what provides value for money.”
There’s also the issue of the dreaded comeback fight, long a staple of boxing. The way it’s usually set up in the contract: if fighter X loses, he’s guaranteed X amount of money to fight a lower-level opponent to be agreed upon.
“I don’t think any self-respecting fighter likes a soft touch,” Breeze said. “Some of it is financially driven because a budget is a budget and you can’t have massive fight after massive fight after massive fight. Doesn’t mean you can’t have an intriguing one.
“I’m not a fan of doing bad deals that don’t make sense for a TV network. It’s just not a sensible way to deploy your money when there are so many more interesting ways to do it. We encourage intelligible matchmaking.”
Now, it’s up to DAZN, Golden Boy and Matchroom to keep the momentum going. Breeze laments that DAZN has two stars-in-the-making with Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney, yet they’re no closer to fighting each other.
It’s been a good stretch, and it’s about to become stronger with Canelo-Saunders on the horizon and even an intriguing fight between Haney and Jorge Linares on May 21, but regularity reigns supreme.
“DAZN’s schedule has consistently outperformed every other boxing platform in the U.S.,” Hearn said. “It continues to offer the best value for money from any platform and showcase some of the biggest talent in world boxing continuously and consistently.
“The pay-per-view price point of the products that we’re seeing right now in America is a fading model and I’m more confident than ever that DAZN is the future of boxing.”
(Top photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Good article...now World Boxing Super Series needs to get on with rebuilding for season 3 for it and hopefully no bullshyt with the money
...The whole first season CW tournament, 140 finals, and 118 finals were all classic as fukk...need moreThe Triple Gawd prolly has another FOTY caliber brawl left in him too for the platform
The axe murderer
For I am death and I ride on a pale horse
Mchunu vs tischenko card on YouTube live
like this little thing bread was talking about regarding punching power
KingOFKings
All Star
Random thought and rant.
Sometimes I question if the camera guys these channels like Fight Hype and Fight Hub even understand boxing. Hell, even bigger networks like FOX and showtime. Why do they send amateurs to take training footage and absolutely butcher it?
The amount of training footage of elite boxers that has been ruined by not showing the full body (footwork and pivots while hitting the heavy bag, mitts, or shadowboxing) is an absolute shame.
How can you only show the upperbody movement on an entire training video? I get if you need closeups and that’s cool..yet an entire video of exclusive upperbody footage is a slap in the face and a disservice to the sport.
It’s like zooming in on an NBA player doing a crossover or dunk and only showing the upper part of the body. How does that make any sense?
Boxing is just as much about footwork/stance than punching, it’s 50/50 at the least and also the mechanics of punching involve the legs/feet.
I’m not talking about fight footage. Luckily all the networks (even the worse) have people that know boxing behind the camera. Strictly talking about training footage. When I see an entire pre fight or “media day” workout where the footage is just a closeup of one half of the body it might as well not even exist!
Sometimes I question if the camera guys these channels like Fight Hype and Fight Hub even understand boxing. Hell, even bigger networks like FOX and showtime. Why do they send amateurs to take training footage and absolutely butcher it?
The amount of training footage of elite boxers that has been ruined by not showing the full body (footwork and pivots while hitting the heavy bag, mitts, or shadowboxing) is an absolute shame.
How can you only show the upperbody movement on an entire training video? I get if you need closeups and that’s cool..yet an entire video of exclusive upperbody footage is a slap in the face and a disservice to the sport.
It’s like zooming in on an NBA player doing a crossover or dunk and only showing the upper part of the body. How does that make any sense?
Boxing is just as much about footwork/stance than punching, it’s 50/50 at the least and also the mechanics of punching involve the legs/feet.
I’m not talking about fight footage. Luckily all the networks (even the worse) have people that know boxing behind the camera. Strictly talking about training footage. When I see an entire pre fight or “media day” workout where the footage is just a closeup of one half of the body it might as well not even exist!
The axe murderer
For I am death and I ride on a pale horse
Crawford hits much harder than people give credit for
Beterbiev should have gone pro earlier. Even in the amateurs he was knocking people out
The axe murderer
For I am death and I ride on a pale horse
T
This. I'm like watching aj or ggg on the pads or heavybag and sometimes they don't show it. These aren't arm punches they're throwing
Dallas' 4 Eva
Superstar
I think Crawford has good pop in his right hand, not so much his left. He is always hurting guys with his right(Khan and Mean Machine a straight right, Benavidez right uppercut, Brook that ugly ass right whatever he hit him with). I think that is why he prefers to fight Southpaw now at 147. He used to fight Orthodox a lot more at 135 and 140, but at 147 it's much bigger and stronger guys so he keeps his strong hand in front to keep them at bay with that power jab.
The axe murderer
For I am death and I ride on a pale horse
The axe murderer
For I am death and I ride on a pale horse
Mchunu seems to be ahead on the scorecards
The axe murderer
For I am death and I ride on a pale horse
Mchunu counters too sharp
ill prolly watch it after...the card for povetkin whyte is starting
The axe murderer
For I am death and I ride on a pale horse
This looks to be a sweep