Any seasoned boxing fan will tell you that as of late the sport has had its issues. While the names at the top of the rankings are as big as ever, fractured relationships between promoters and their respective stables of fighters have meant many divisions are held up, rising fighters are missing title chances, and fans are forced to wait for dream fights that never materialize.
In recent years, this has been remedied somewhat by the entrance of Saudi Arabia - led by the chair of the country’s General Entertainment Authority and prominent matchmaker, Turki Alalshikh - to the fore of the boxing fold, staging all-star cards globally as part of its Riyadh Season brand.
While this has helped secure million-dollar paydays for boxing’s top fighters, kept divisions moving, and perhaps most importantly maintained the sport’s popularity by putting its biggest protagonists together, what it has not done is brought future stars into the fore, nor maintained the sport’s connection with smaller markets.
Alongside the US, Mexico, and Japan, the UK stands as one of boxing’s biggest markets and one of the largest sources of top-level talent despite its smaller population, owing to a long tradition of professional and amateur boxing that has kept its talent pool in the country well stocked.
Top-level UK boxers like Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, signed to Matchroom and Queensberry Promotions respectively, have continued to grow in popularity, and regularly perform in front of five-figure crowds in the UK, US, and Saudi Arabia, but neither have competed in the UK outside of the capital London since 2018.
Unlocking the latest generation of this talent pool and engaging underserved audiences is key to upstart UK promotion Boxxer’s strategy to grow amid the ravenous boxing landscape.
Spearheaded by founder and chief executive Ben Shalom, who in 2018 became the UK’s youngest ever licensed boxing promoter aged just 23, Boxxer has staged events across the UK and Europe in both high-profile arenas and smaller local venues.
“The main goal was, how can we make boxing more accessible?” Shalom explains to Sportcal (GlobalData Sport). “How can we bring it to larger audiences, and make it more mainstream and transparent?”
Outlining the core tenets behind his promotion's rapid ascent, he adds: “It comes down to understanding the sport on a deeper level and trying to do things differently. And I think that's the reason why we've broken into a sport that's been run by the same families for 40-50 years.”
Broadcast partnerships
Since 2018, Boxxer has inked media rights partnerships on both sides of the Atlantic, in the UK and Ireland with pay-TV giant Sky Sports, and in the US with heavyweight broadcaster NBC (primarily through its Peacock OTT service).
These major media deals in two of boxing’s biggest commercial markets are supplemented by several smaller regional deals in less prominent boxing markets, for example with StarTimes in sub-Saharan Africa, BeTV in Belgium and Luxembourg, and MolaTV in Italy, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
“Being able to partner with the right media partners is always key for a promotional business,” Shalom says, asserting that even though its major distributors sit behind a paywall, Sky and NBC are still able to play a strong role in growing boxing, and Boxxer’s audience.
“We want boxing to be seen by as many people as possible. But, it's also a sport driven by money, and because of that a lot of the sport has ended up on pay-TV platforms or subscription platforms.
“Fortunately, especially with Sky Sports, you're working with a pay-TV provider that's almost as big as a free-to-air channel, especially in the UK. And that's what gives us a huge advantage for bringing our sport and our fighters to the biggest audience. And that will always be the key driver in the business.”
Shalom claims that Boxxer has drawn seven-figure viewership “four or five times” for its fight nights, illustrating the benefits to both the promotion and Sky’s boxing coverage with the tie-up.
“We won’t always go with the partners that pay the most because what we're prioritizing is that the sport is seen by as many people as possible.”
To that end, Boxxer has been featured prominently on Sky Showcase and Sky Sports Mix, Sky Sports’ free-to-air variety channels, to maintain Boxxer’s visibility among those unable to afford or unwilling to pay for the Sky Sports package.
A British stable
While expansion into the lucrative US boxing market is naturally on Shalom’s agenda, he maintains that this should not come at the cost of Boxxer’s focus on promoting UK boxers in the domestic market and asserts that the two can go together.
Earlier this week, the promoter revealed on TalkSport that light-heavyweight rising star Ben Whittaker will “headline” a boxing show in the US, should the brit prove successful in defeating Liam Cameron on the blockbuster undercard of the upcoming Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol fight (October 12 in Saudi Arabia).
Whittaker, a former Olympic silver medalist at the Tokyo 2020 games, has won fans for his flashy style both in and out of the ring and his rise to stardom personifies Ben Shalom’s growth strategy.
“We're a talent-led business. We started [Boxxer] based on our capabilities and our brand and breaking down barriers, but ultimately, it's about having the best fighters and the most sought-after fighters and that's what we're preparing for with the future [in mind],” Shalom explains.
However well a promotion is run, it will always need name value in its stable and on its cards to attract TV deals, pay-per-view buys, and perhaps most crucially, to fill seats.
While the UK’s performances in boxing at Paris 2024 paled in comparison to those of Tokyo 2020, the amateur boxing to professional boxing pipeline is a well-established one in the country, having provided champions such as Olympic gold medalist WBA, IBO, and Ring female welterweight World champion and (Boxxer signee) Lauren Price among others.
The stable Shalom has accrued consists mostly of British fighters plucked from the amateur ranks that now seem fit and ready to break through to the mainstream.
The March 31 Boxxer event headlined by the bout between Fabio Wardley and Frazer Clarke, for example, drew a peak audience of 746,000 on Sky Sports, averaging 438,000 over the four-hour card and became the fifth-most watched boxing event on Sky Sports of the past 10 years.
Elsewhere, Congolese heavyweight sensation Martin Bakole looks set to become one of the division’s major players over the coming years, while Chris Eubank Jr., who will also fight on the Bivol vs. Beterbiev undercard, brings all the attention his prestigious surname carries.
All these big names sit atop a roster built on local flair that has helped Boxxer stage events at stadia up and down the UK, bringing underserved locales such as Barnsley, Bournemouth, Wolverhampton, and more into the national conversation, of course alongside a strong slate of London fight cards and international events in France and Poland.
“With our fighters, we definitely look at where they're from, where they connect to, and if we can we build the sport in their area, and it works very well for building superstars in the sport,” Shalom says, pointing to the success of former fighters such as Ricky Hatton in galvanizing regional boxing interest.
Boxing’s new world
London will always be the center of the UK’s boxing scene and the country’s most famous fighter, Anthony Joshua, will fight in the capital again on September 21 against fellow Brit Daniel Dubois. The penultimate fight on the card will see Boxxer’s own Tyler Denny square off against Hamzah Sheeraz in a middleweight bout, while light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi, another Boxxer standout, will take on Willy Hutchinson.
The card has been organized by the Saudi Arabian sports and entertainment festival Riyadh Season and aided by Alalshikh, who as of late has harmonized the discord between the major players in the boxing world somewhat (largely through the application of money and hosting capability).
Under Alalshikh’s oversight, Riyadh Season has signed partnerships with the world’s four largest boxing promoters, Eddie Hearne’s Matchroom, Frank Warren’s Queensberry, Bob Arum’s Top Rank, and Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy to bring synergy and collaboration across the rivals.
“The only way the sport grows is if the promoters work together and everyone's business grows when it gets it right,” Shalom says, offering his opinion on Saudi and Alalshikh’s rising prominence in the sport.
“Unity and boxing from the protagonists is key to having a product that can rival every sport. I think we're on the crest of a huge sea change in boxing that obviously we're happy to be involved in.”
Shalom, however, balanced this sentiment by recommitting his priorities to his home country, something he says Alalshikh supports.
“We're very supportive and very excited by everything that Turki Alalshikh is managing to do. And equally, I think he's encouraging that we also put on the big events to keep boxing popular and healthy in the localities.
“With Sky Sports, we have a huge responsibility to put on big events in this country and keep the interest in British boxing in this country. And so of course, that's a different strategy to other promoters, but we're very passionate about building the next crop of stars.”
Despite Shalom’s positive outlook, he is not hesitant to stare down the hurdles Boxxer’s growth now poses him.
“[Boxing poses] different [commercial] challenges now. How many broadcasters and fighters do we take on? Instead of needing fighters, we've got to become more selective. We've got to be careful with how many shows we put on.
“And so, as with any business, it evolves, and it changes over time, and we've now got to a certain size where we have to look at the world differently, and with the Saudi influence as well, make sure that we are in on the money with where we believe the sport is going.”
“For me, the key for the next few years for boxing is, yes, to put on the very biggest fights, to attract the biggest audiences globally, but also to make sure that we remember boxing is a grassroots sport and needs to be close to the people. We should try and make quality boxing as available as possible, to as big of an audience as possible.
“There was a time when every TV in the country could watch boxing. The more we can remember that going forward, I think that's how you future-proof the success of the sport, and also the business.”
