It’s a bonanza for fight fans. First, Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford. And hours later, Naoya Inoue vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev. Excitement and thrill are all around. But deep down, apprehensions continue to linger. Surprisingly, a storm seemingly ignored the much bigger showdown at the Allegiant Stadium. It’s the clash at the newly opened IG Arena in Nagoya that features in its crosshairs. The only solace—the drama unfolding outside the ring.

Reportedly, as a result of the end of their ESPN contract, for the American and English viewers, Top Rank’s Facebook channel will live stream the Naoya Inoue–Murodjon Akhmadaliev undisputed super bantamweight clash. Not sure how some of the fans and pundits have absorbed the update. He may not match Canelo’s stardom, but Inoue is a popular figure in the boxing world. At least back home in Japan, he remains one of the biggest draws. Take the latest match, for instance. Some reports suggest a sellout of nearly seventeen thousand tickets, generating a revenue worth $1.1 million.

Facebook is the stage for Naoya Inoue vs. MJ

“Top Rank will provide fight fans in the USA and UK with a free live stream to watch Naoya Inoue vs. MJ Akhmadaliev this weekend,” read the tweet from Boxing Kingdom. Shared by a user, an Inoue-MJ fight poster apparently confirmed the update: “Watch live on Facebook.com/TRBOXING,” the caption stated.

For that matter, a few other outlets shared similar news. From the reactions, it was clear that many fans were quite happy with the move. Additionally, it appears users at other locations may have to use a VPN service to access the stream.

The report strangely contrasts with the frenzy to purchase the match tickets. A ‘Boxing News‘ story reveals how 17,000 tickets were sold out within 10 minutes. Tickets originally cost ¥10,000 ($67 / £50). But on resale markets, they’re going for up to ¥130,000 ($882 / £653). That’s 13 times higher than the original!

It seems the fight promoter is exploring legal action against scalpers.

Top Rank’s digital detour

What may amuse a few is that just days ago, boxing insider Rick Glaser shared an insight into Top Rank’s plight. “Top Rank has no TV and/or streaming deal in place,” he wrote. And he ascribed a few plausible reasons. According to Glaser, Top Rank became ‘too arrogant, too corporate, business decisions made by non-boxing people that had no empathy for boxing, & too many talking heads that didn’t warrant their lofty status.’

A month ago, Glaser updated how Top Rank may have secured a partnership deal with cable channel Starz. “11 boxing shows a year, 1 million per show, & Top Rank will retain the foreign rights,” he revealed.

So the confusing state of affairs follows Top Rank’s exit from the ESPN contract. For eight years, they managed to bring home some of the biggest fights of recent times. And the culmination of the partnership dashed the last hope of linear TV viewing for US boxing.

With Dana White’s new boxing promotion, Zuffa Boxing, which runs the show at Allegiant Stadium, striking gold with the Netflix stream and the overall atmosphere where combat sports appear to be moving away from the good old pay-per-view model, it will be interesting to see how Top Rank’s experiment with the Facebook stream fares.

What are your thoughts on Top Rank’s decision to air Inoue-MJ on FB?