DAZN came rolling into the boxing world armed with a billion dollars fronted by charm offensive promoter Eddie Hearn in 2018 with a promise to revolutionise how boxing fans consume content. Matchroom’s full boxing schedule is broadcast excluisvely across the world along with American outfit Golden Boy.
Their investment into British boxing goes a step further later this month with Josh Kelly Vs Gabriel Alberto Corzo being picked up by the network. The Wasserman prompted show takes place at the Vertu Motors Arena, Newcastle on June 24.
ProBox TV spoke with DAZN’s Vice President of Marketing, Alfie Sharman to discuss the station’s latest expansion into British boxing.
“We are very excited about Josh.” Sharman said. “We are very happy to have him on our platform on his way to a world title shot.”
DAZN’s recent acquisition of a show that would have been expected to land on UK terrestrial, Channel 5. Wasserman’s professional UK boxing debut on the network marks the first non-Matchroom promoted show in the country.
“We have made no qualms, DAZN as platform, that we will work with any promoter, any broadcaster to delivery the best boxing to our customers.” Sharman continued. “Long gone are the times that rivalries don’t allow great fights to happen. We have never operated like that. We have a very strong relationship with Wasserman through our X Series, the crossover boxing. Obviously Nisse and Kalle [Sauerland] are partners of ours and we also work closely with Golden Boy, it shows you how willing we are to work with people to make great fights. We have an incredibly strong relationship with Matchroom and we also shared the broadcast with Showtime in the US for Tank Davis Vs Ryan Garcia, our actions show we are open to working with anybody.
“We really like Josh as a fighter. Wasserman are longtime partners of ours and he is with them. Who knows if he will continue to fight on the platform after this [fight]. We we will see how the next fight goes and we obviously wish him the best. He looked incredible in his last fight, it’s exciting times for him. We are just very excited about our schedule at the moment, we are going from week-to-week with top tier fighters around the world. It is really exciting for us at the moment.”
Josh Kelly (13-1-1, 7 KOs) comes off a lopsided points victory over Troy Willamson to win the British title last December. His lone career defeat came against David Avanesyan in 2021, he has since rebuilt with three straight victories since signing with Wasserman. He takes on the undefeated Argentine, Gonzalo Alberto Coria (18-0, 3 KOs) for a WBO regional title, an organiston where he sits at second place in the rankings.
