Six weeks ago, the state of the boxing broadcast ecosystem was truly alarming. Top Rank had no television contract. Golden Boy’s contract with DAZN has expired. PBC limped along with a handful of Prime Video paid views. The only promotions with robust long-term TV networks were Matchroom, Queensberry and the fresh kid on the block in Zuffa Boxing. ESPN has completely moved away from sports. The business side of boxing seemed to be collapsing in real time.

Today the picture looks completely different. Not perfect. But alive.

Scorecard

Matchroom Boxing has a five-year extension with DAZN until 2031, announced in February. Thirty events per year. Eddie Hearn isn’t going anywhere, and neither is the deepest squad in the sport – Anthony Joshua, Dmitry Bivol, Jesse Rodriguez, Jaron Ennis, Katie Taylor, Dalton Smith and the rest.

Zuffa Boxing has a five-year contract with Paramount+ in the US, reportedly worth $100 million a year, and has just announced a multi-year broadcast deal with Heavenly sports for the UK and Ireland – confirming that Sky is the broadcaster of all Zuffa events involving at least five cards per year in the UK. Say what you will about Dana White’s entry into boxing, but this is real money and real distribution on both sides of the Atlantic. Paramount+ is also keeping UFC in a separate $7.7 billion deal, which means combat sports fans already have a reason to subscribe. Zuffa’s inaugural Paramount+ card launched in January, and the promotion crowned its first champion when Jai Opetaia dominated Brandon Glanton on March 8, and now has a British TV network that gives it a eternal presence in Europe’s largest boxing market.

Top Rank and DAZN announced their multi-year deal today. Bob Arum’s entire squad – Xander Zayas, Keyshawn Davis, Abdullah Mason, Emanuel Navarrete, Raymond Muratalla, Bruce Carrington and the entire pipeline – now competes on the same platform as Matchroom and Queensberry. It is accompanied by an archive of six decades. Dan Rafael reported that Top Rank is also negotiating a second deal that could bring back the ESPN business, which would give Arum the multi-outlet model he had been pushing for before ESPN’s departure.

PBC remains on Amazon Prime Video with five to six shows a year, mostly on pay-per-view for $79.99 each. It’s not a huge game and it’s not inexpensive for fans, but Sebastian Fundora’s March 28 defense of his WBC junior middleweight title against Keith Thurman is legitimate, and there are still names on the PBC roster that are moving the needle. With PBC, it was never about talent – ​​it was always about availability.

Most Valuable Promotions launched MVPW, a platform dedicated to women’s boxing, and signed a multi-year deal with ESPN through 2028. Credit to that – Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian saw a gap and filled it. Over 40 players have contracts. Caroline Dubois vs. Terri Harper on April 5 in London. Alycia Baumgardner vs. Bo Mi Re Shin at Madison Square Garden Theater on April 17. ESPN is bringing boxing back to the airwaves, even if it’s women-only for now, thanks to MVP. These are real fights with real world titles on the line, not exhibitions.

That leaves the Golden Boy. Oscar De La Hoya’s contract with DAZN expired at the end of 2025 and has not been formally extended yet. Golden Boy actually moved forward with a one-off event on DAZN on March 14, headlined by the Arnold Barboza Jr. fight. vs. Kenneth Sims Jr. at the Honda Center, and De La Hoya has said publicly that he is working on a fresh, long-term extension. Golden Boy has players people want to watch – Vergil Ortiz Jr., Oscar Collazo, Seniesa Estrada – and the sport is better when they have a stable home. But until pen touches paper, it is the only obvious hole in the landscape.

What does it mean

DAZN now includes Matchroom, Queensberry, Golden Boy (at least in practice) and Top Rank. This is an extraordinary concentration of talent on one platform. The promise of this consolidation has always been plain: if everyone is on the same network, network policies that prevent the best from fighting the best should disappear. Matchroom players can compete with top-class players. The boys from Queensberry can take on the boys from Golden Boy. The fights that fans have been clamoring for have become logistically possible in a way that hasn’t been the case for years.

Whether it will actually look like this is another matter. Promoters remain promoters. They still have their own financial incentives, their own relationships, their own egos. Being on the same platform doesn’t automatically mean that the Vergil Ortiz vs. Jaron Ennis fight will take place tomorrow. But it removes one of the biggest structural barriers. It matters.

Another thing worth noting is that there is real cross-platform competition in boxing right now. DAZN dominates the classic promotion model. Paramount+ and Sky Sports support the Zuffa rebellion on both sides of the Atlantic. Amazon runs PBC. Netflix is ​​getting into spectacular events. ESPN returns with its Women’s MVP series. This kind of competitive tension is vigorous for the sport because it forces everyone to deliver better content, better production, and better fights.

It is also worth noting that Saudi Arabia’s investments touch both sides of the divide. SURJ Sports, backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, has a significant stake in DAZN. Sela, a Saudi entertainment conglomerate, is a joint venture partner financing Zuffa Boxing. Turki Alalshikh’s season cards in Riyad are broadcast on DAZN, and his contacts also run through the Zuffa structure. This is not a criticism – it is a reflection of how deeply Saudi capital is now embedded in the sports infrastructure. Growth is real. The investment changed its face. However, anyone paying attention to the business side of boxing should understand that the cross-platform competitive landscape is more intertwined at the ownership level than it may seem.

Six weeks ago, it seemed like the sport was running out of places to put its product. Today, every major promotion except Golden Boy has a confirmed broadcaster, ESPN is back in the boxing industry, and DAZN is closer to a one-stop shop for the sport than any platform since HBO-Showtime. The landscape is not perfect. But for the first time in a while, it looks like this is a sport with a real future.

If Golden Boy can make it to the finish line with DAZN, the picture will be almost ready.

Al “Chico” Evans remains a forgotten heavyweight who dealt Mike Tyson one of the most overlooked defeats of his career, stopping the future champion as a 16-year-old amateur before the sport began to move forward without him.

Tyson wasn’t yet a fearsome professional force that would tear through the heavyweight division. He was still a teenager learning the U.S. amateur scene when Evans, a fully grown 27-year-old heavyweight from Chicago, defeated him in the 1982 U.S. Amateur Championship.

Context matters. Evans deserves full credit for the victory, but the age difference adds perspective.

It was a man standing face to face with a juvenile man who was not yet the completed version that the world would later know.

How Al Evans defeated Mike Tyson

Evans didn’t score a one-punch knockout. Available data indicates a stoppage in the third round, which is consistent with the most detailed press coverage of the fight.

Later Chicago Tribune ReportEvans remembers being warned about Tyson’s strength before the fight. He said Tyson started brisk and picked up early, but felt he was in control of the action despite the pressure.

According to this account, the turning point came in the third quarter. Evans said: “I put in a left hook and that was it.” He then dropped Tyson again with a right hand before the fight was stopped after another fall, a sequence later described by the Chicago Tribune as “flattening” the future champion.

This does not detract from the result, but explains it. Evans beat Tyson clearly enough for the referee to step in, and the knockdown sequence tells the real story better than any headline version.

A context that cannot be ignored

Any truthful story should include where both fighters were at the time. Amateur boxing pits fighters at very different stages of development, and Tyson had yet to become the cohesive, ruthless world title-winning force we saw a few years later.

Despite this, the victory still matters because Evans wasn’t some anonymous opponent pulled out of nowhere. In the amateur ring, he was a legitimate heavyweight with the size, skill and enough pedigree to make the result stand up for scrutiny.

A real contender, not just Tyson trivia

Evans had substance beyond that one night. Reports from the period and the broader history of his amateur career place him among the toughest American heavyweights of the era, even if injuries repeatedly hampered his progress.

He defeated grave opponents, rose to a high level of competition, and in boxing circles became known as a man who managed to do something that almost no one else had done at any stage of Tyson’s career.

That’s why this story continues. Not because it rewrites Tyson’s legacy, and not because it involves exaggeration, but because it shows how uneven a sport can be before greatness has fully taken shape.

Evans never came close to sharing Tyson’s fame. “Iron Mike” became one of the biggest names in sports history while Evans faded into the background.

But the result remains, and so does the account of how it happened.

For this reason, Al “Chico” Evans deserves more than a passing mention. He deserves to be remembered as more than just a curiosity attached to someone’s story.

About the author

Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.

Q: How did you get into the boxing gym? How elderly were you when you had your first approved fight?
Answer: I grew up in Brighton Beach and boxing was always around. When I was a little kid, my dad took me to the gym because I had too much energy and needed some discipline. Once I put the gloves on, I didn’t want to take them off. I had my first approved fight when I was about 10 years elderly and from that moment on I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life.

Q: You have fought over 130 amateur fights and won the Up-to-date York Golden Gloves in the open 152-pound weight class. Instead of competing in the Olympics, you turned professional at the age of 17. Did you feel you were better suited to professional boxing?
Answer: Yes, definitely. The amateurs were great for gaining experience, but my style was always more suited to the professional ranks. I like to sit on punches, get to the body and take guys down. In the amateurs you can overtake others and move around, but I always wanted to hurt the guys and put on a show. Turning professional at 19 seemed like the right move.

Q: As a little kid, you sparred with the likes of fellow Brooklynite and former middleweight champion Danny Jacobs. Are there any other celebrated names you have shared the ring with in sparring or amateur fights?
A: Sparring with Danny Jacobs was a massive deal for me at first. He’s a world champion and a great guy who gave me a grave job. I also shared rounds with many of the top competitors in Up-to-date York gyms, professionals and amateurs. When you’re on the Brooklyn gym scene, you’re always around killers, so every sparring session feels like a real fight.

Q: Brooklyn amateurs you’ve fought – like WBC featherweight champion Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington and IBF super lightweight champion Richardson Hitchins – are making headlines these days. How frustrating was it to sit on the sidelines and watch your neighbors win championship belts?
A: Look, of course you want to be the center of attention too. These are my boys and I am proud of them, but at the same time I know that I belong to them. Boxing is a crazy business and sometimes things outside the ring snail-paced you down. But trust me, the hunger becomes stronger when everyone else is shining. My time is coming.

Q: For those who haven’t seen you fight, who would you compare your style to, or who would you compare your style to, among boxers past or present?
Answer: I think I bring a bit of an elderly school flavor. I love body punching like the best did it. Some people say I remind them of Roy Jones Jr. in the way I attack the body, but I take that as a high compliment. But honestly, I’m just trying to create my own style – that “white chocolate” style.

Q: You seem to really love boxing, even though you’ve been boxing with your own shadow for over twenty years. Would “No Boxing, No Life” be an exact description of how you feel about the sport?
Answer: This is exactly how I feel. Boxing gave me everything – discipline, purpose and a way to express myself. When I’m not training, I’m thinking about training. When I’m not fighting, I’m thinking about fighting. For me it’s not just a sport, it’s a lifestyle.

Q: Have you ever had a full-time job or was boxing your only job?
Answer: Boxing has always been my main goal. Since I was a kid, it was gym, school, gym again. When you start fighting juvenile and chasing massive dreams, you build your entire life around it. I always treated it like a full-time job.

Q: What do you do with your time outside the ring?
A: I like things to be plain. Spend time with your family, hang out with friends, maybe watch fights and learn the game. I also care about regeneration – stretching, sauna and the like. And of course I enjoy being by the ocean when I’m in Florida.

Q: What’s frequently played on your music playlist now when you’re working out at the gym?
A: It’s a mix. I would say it’s mostly hip-hop and house music.

Q: You’re leaving snowy Brooklyn for the bright reaches of South Florida to train at BOXR Gym, where airy heavyweight champion David Benavidez will be training for his fight with Zurdo Ramirez. How do you like life in 305?
A: I love it. The weather is amazing, the atmosphere is different and there are a lot of grave competitors there. Being around fighters like David Benavidez and other hungry champions at BOXR Gym takes you to the next level. It’s all about leveling up.

Q: A video recently surfaced of you giving up a tough decision to a very good Russian fighter, Yuri Osipov. At first I thought it was a professional fight because there was no headgear, but it was actually a five-round fight. What happened that night and what did you learn from that fight?
Answer: This fight remains one of the most tough experiences of my career. I didn’t have to take it because it was only an exhibition match, but I agreed to it under tough circumstances. I arrived in Russia four days before the fight on low notice and became seriously ill. Even my trainer Andre Rozier, who was traveling with me, fainted in front of everyone during the weigh-in due to the same stressful conditions.

Due to my illness and weight loss for the fight, I was unable to properly hydrate, take medications, or maintain proper nutrition. Even though my team advised me to withdraw, I decided to take part in the competition because of the financial incentive. Looking back, this decision was unwise.

Although the match does not count towards my professional record, it was a valuable training for me. If I go to an exhibition again, I will make sure I am properly prepared and put my health first.

Q: You recently started training at BOXR Gym with legendary Up-to-date York trainer Milton LaCroix. Any modern elements to your game that you worked on with Milton?
Answer: Milton is a genius. We worked on perfecting everything – defense, angles and even better positioning of my body shots. The power has always been there, but now it’s about being smarter and more complete in the ring.

Q: Nowadays it seems that many competitors are content to take a nap to ensure a protected victory and a payday, forgetting that this is an entertainment business. When you’re struggling, it feels like being an artist is part of the “white chocolate” experience. How crucial is it to you to put on a show in front of your fans and not get an basic W?
A: It’s huge. Fans spend their hard-earned money to watch us fight. They deserve emotions. I want people to jump out of their chairs every time I step into the ring. Knockouts and body shots – that’s what boxing is all about. When you watch White Chocolate, you know you’re going to get a show.

Q: You have a lot of fans among the Russian fans in Brighton Beach. What does it mean to you to represent your hometown when you step into the ring?
Answer: It means everything. I was raised by Brighton Beach. This community has supported me from the beginning. When I fight, I feel like I’m carrying all of Brooklyn and all the fans with me. This pride motivates me to achieve the best results.

Q: Even though you’re heading south to train in Florida, your heart is in Brooklyn. Anything you want to say to Brooklyn fans – or anyone in particular you’d like to shake hands with?
A: Brooklyn, I appreciate all the love. Don’t worry, I’m working and coming back stronger than ever. And to anyone who thinks they’re protected at middleweight… remember my name. White Chocolate is coming and when I get my chance, I’m taking the belt back to Brooklyn!