Premier Boxing Champions (PBC)’s partnership with Amazon Prime seems to be on a roll. Beginning with the February 1 David Benavidez-David Morrell event, the team had already dished out an array of stacked cards and now looks forward to Manny Pacquiao’s much-anticipated return on July 19. However, the latest grapevine suggests Al Haymon‘s promotion and ESPN are discussing a potential network collaboration.

The news has attracted a mixed bag of reactions. With ESPN’s contract with Top Rank ending next month and given that PBC has showcased one big event after the other, the new venture, if it comes about, sounds promising. But hold your horses. Well-known boxing insider Rick Glaser, who has in the past highlighted PBC’s alleged $900 million debt woes, believes there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves

“‼️📰 News ESPN has had preliminary discussions about the possibility of bringing Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) to the network,” read @Brunch Boxing’s latest post. Top Rank’s contract with ESPN is ending. Their final ESPN event is scheduled for July 26, 2025 – Xander Zayas vs. Jorge Garcia. But ESPN still seems interested in staying involved in boxing, one post implied. However, Rick Glaser believes the rumors could be misleading. “Rumors of PBC to ESPN are exaggerated,” he tweeted. Highlighting that reportedly Amazon may potentially walk out of the PBC deal, the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame (NYSBHOF) inductee added, “If there is any deal, ESPN would solely be a PPV distributor of the PBC PPV offerings.”

According to Glaser, PBC is not getting a full, long-term TV deal with ESPN the way Bob Arum’s Top Rank has. Providing some background to his contention, he said, “From 2015 to 2017, PBC stupidly paid for their airtime on ESPN. Then ESPN threw out PBC in favor of Top Rank & paid TR for their content.” Thus, given that history, especially since they’ve already invested in Top Rank, it’s unlikely ESPN would now sign a full content deal with PBC.

Roughly a decade ago, on March 19, 2015, ESPN and Al Haymon’s PBC inked a multi-year, 11-event-per-year agreement. But the deal barely lasted a year.

ESPN and PBC: A rough timeline of what happened in the past

So, reportedly, PBC paid networks like ESPN to air their shows based on a model called ‘time-buy.’ Basically, what it meant was that the promotion would have to pay for the airtime, produce the broadcasts themselves, and keep advertising revenue. It turned out to be quite expensive and unsustainable. There was no guaranteed TV rights revenue from networks. So ESPN wasn’t investing in PBC content. They were just taking money and airing the shows. Not a real partnership.

Then other reports suggested PBC shows on ESPN (and other networks) delivered mixed-to-low TV ratings. Seemingly, their matchups lacked either star power or a competitive edge. More significantly, the broadcast style perhaps didn’t connect with audiences. So ESPN likely saw that this wasn’t delivering value.

In 2017, ESPN pivoted. A multi-year rights deal meant ESPN would pay Top Rank for exclusive boxing content. Marking a shift from airtime sales to actual rights ownership, ESPN thus had more control and branding opportunities.

For the record, Rick Glaser has never been shy of highlighting PBC’s challenges. Just a week ago, he slammed the promotion for its roster of inactive fighters. “The thing about PBC that is unique is you can never tell if one of their fighters has retired, as they’re so inactive you can’t tell inactivity from retirement,” he said. Months earlier, he highlighted how PBC had reportedly failed to repay its lenders, owing a debt of around $900 million!

Fans will have to watch out as more news on the development emerges in the coming weeks.

What’s your take on Rick Glaser’s observations on the ESPN-PBC talks?