Top Rank Promoter Gives Crucial Advice to Amazon Prime Following PBC Deal to Prevent Huge “Disaster” for the Sport

Amazon Prime is entering the boxing business, hoping to be the next big PPV distributor of the sport. While such a prospectus has kept stakeholders, excited, leading promoter, Bob Arum of Top Rank Boxing has detailed one aspect that could potentially go wrong with Amazon Prime’s partnership with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC). 

On December 16th, Showtime Boxing officially pulled the curtains on its 37-year-long reign as the leading PPV distributor in the business. With its collapse, PBC who relied heavily on Showtime for its PPV needs inked a multi-year deal with Amazon Prime. Come March 2024, per the deal, Amazon Prime will make boxing events available to everyone, irrespective of them being Prime members or not. The deal has been considered by many as a turning point in how the boxing business works. However, certain qualms remain. Outlining them, Bob Arum channeled his optimism toward the development.

Bob Arum Cautions Amazon Prime

After being in the industry for more than 6 decades now, Arum has picked up ample wisdom about the business of boxing. Per his experience, he sees one crucial thing that Amazon Prime and PBC’s Al Haymon need to be mindful of when navigating their new alliance. Explaining how important it is to cap the number of fights under PPV, 92-year-old Arum said to Fight Hub TV, “The only thing I would hope is that they don’t over load it with pay-per-view that they do more free fights in the platform because if we Al disproportionally uses them to do pay-per-view, that’s a disaster for the sport.”

In boxing, the majority of the fights earn revenue by pay-per-views (PPVs), a system through which viewers pay for individual fight events. On the other hand, some events are free to viewers but earn their revenues through advertisements and sponsorships. Noting how pertinent it is to reserve only big fights for PPV, Arum continued, “I’ve always believed that the pay-per-view fights should be few and fought between and that most of the fights, as many as possible, should be free to the consumer”

Arum’s analysis is potent, it is necessary to keep the right balance for the sport to be accessible. However, the legendary promoter saw glimpses of optimism in PBC’s tying up with Amazon Prime.

The Japan Case Study

In 2021, Top Rank and Teiken Promotions announced that they’ll be roping in Amazon Prime, Japan to live stream boxing events for 2021 and 2022. Happy with the way their business was handled by the streaming company, Bob Arum renewed their deal this year with Amazon Prime.

Speaking positively about their partnership, Arum earlier in the interview said, “Well, first of all, the Amazon Prime people are first rate. We’ve had experience for now a number of years, dealing with them in Japan on various fights and so forth. They’re really into it. In Japan, we’ve just renewed our Japanese deal with Amazon Prime, they’re a great organization and hopefully they’ll be able to replicate what they’ve done in Japan in the United States.”

Also Read: Key features of Al Hayman’s PBC deal with Amazon Prime

With Bob Arum’s experience with Amazon Prime, it is safe to assume that PBC is in able hands. With lavish plans like exclusively streaming PBC events and a shoulder project that includes documentaries and behind-the-scene projects, the boxing world can expect a treat from the two entities.

Do you agree with Arum’s thoughts? Let us know in the comments section below.

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