Latest news with #MostValuablePromotions
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Anthony Joshua's shows true colours with two-word comment after Usyk KO's Dubois
Anthony Joshua has seemingly expressed a tinge of remorse after witnessing Oleksandr Usyk's knockout victory over Daniel Dubois. Dubois faced a tough defeat, being floored twice and ultimately stopped in the fifth round by Usyk at Wembley on Saturday night. This came 10 months following Dubois' own triumph over Joshua in an identical round at the same venue. With this win, Usyk reclaimed his title as the undisputed heavyweight world champion for the second time against a British opponent. Joshua has not fought since last September but is expected to return later this year. And asked by The Stomping Ground if he had contacted Joshua after Usyk's win, promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed he had told his fighter: "We should have beaten Dubois," to which Joshua replied simply: "I know." Joshua has yet to announce an opponent for his return to the ring but momentum has swung behind a fight with YouTuber Jake Paul who recently outpointed Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Paul was at ringside at Wembley to see Usyk remain undefeated and faced off with the Ukrainian after the final bell as he chases an MMA fight with the 38-year-old. But his focus is on a clash with Joshua - and Paul has targeted the national stadium as host venue. "It's going to happen, it's going to happen," Paul told talkSPORT. "I want it to happen here (Wembley). All the odds stacked against me. I believe that I will beat him and shock the world and create one of the biggest upsets in boxing history." And Hearn revealed he plans further discussions with Nakisa Bidarian, CEO of Paul's Most Valuable Promotions company. "It sounds like Anthony Joshua is going to fight Jake Paul," added Hearn. "If he is true to his word, if he really wants the fight... the fight will happen. "I can't believe... its great that Tyson Fury is saying Jake Paul is going to win... maybe I've lost my mind. If they truly want the fight, I'm going to speak to Nakisa next week, we can make the fight that does the biggest numbers in the sport. Forget Canelo vs Crawford, it doesn't touch the surface of AJ against Jake Paul. "If you want to do the biggest numbers in the sport, we will make it happen, but be careful what you wish for. This ain't a game, this ain't a YouTube video, this isn't numbers or algorithms, this is physically dangerous. But if you want to do it, we'll do it. I'm not going to argue about it, I'm just telling Jake Paul this is real and he has to understand the consequences that come with a fight like this."
Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Anthony Joshua made two-word comment after Oleksandr Usyk KO'd Daniel Dubois
Daniel Dubois was dropped and stopped by Oleksandr Usyk, 10 months after he had done the same to Anthony Joshua Anthony Joshua hinted at regret after watching Oleksandr Usyk knock out Daniel Dubois. Dubois was dropped twice and stopped in the fifth round by Usyk at Wembley on Saturday night, 10 months after Dubois knocked out Joshua in the same session at the same venue. In defeating the Brit for a second time, Usyk was again crowned the undisputed heavyweight world champion. Joshua has not fought since last September but is expected to return later this year. And asked by The Stomping Ground if he had contacted Joshua after Usyk's win, promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed he had told his fighter: "We should have beaten Dubois," to which Joshua replied simply: "I know". Joshua has yet to announce an opponent for his return to the ring but momentum has swung behind a fight with YouTuber Jake Paul who recently outpointed Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Paul was at ringside at Wembley to see Usyk remain undefeated and faced off with the Ukrainian after the final bell as he chases an MMA fight with the 38-year-old. But his focus is on a clash with Joshua - and Paul has targeted the national stadium as host venue. "It's going to happen, it's going to happen," Paul told talkSPORT. "I want it to happen here (Wembley). All the odds stacked against me. I believe that I will beat him and shock the world and create one of the biggest upsets in boxing history." And Hearn revealed he plans further discussions with Nakisa Bidarian, CEO of Paul's Most Valuable Promotions company. "It sounds like Anthony Joshua is going to fight Jake Paul," added Hearn. "If he is true to his word, if he really wants the fight... the fight will happen. "I can't believe... its great that Tyson Fury is saying Jake Paul is going to win... maybe I've lost my mind. If they truly want the fight, I'm going to speak to Nakisa next week, we can make the fight that does the biggest numbers in the sport. Forget Canelo vs Crawford, it doesn't touch the surface of AJ against Jake Paul. "If you want to do the biggest numbers in the sport, we will make it happen, but be careful what you wish for. This ain't a game, this ain't a YouTube video, this isn't numbers or algorithms, this is physically dangerous. But if you want to do it, we'll do it. I'm not going to argue about it, I'm just telling Jake Paul this is real and he has to understand the consequences that come with a fight like this."
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
Boxing fans divided by potential fight between Jake Paul and Aussie weapon Jai Opetaia
It's the sight sport fans around the world would love to see — Jake Paul getting knocked out and cut down to size by a professional boxer. But will it actually happen? Paul's professional boxing record now reads 12-1, with his most recent victory a one-sided unanimous decision over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr — an underwhelming fight that never got out of first gear. That has been the theme for virtually all of Paul's fights. The 28-year-old YouTuber has chosen his opponents very carefully, allowing himself to build a solid record that saw him ranked in the top 15 of the WBA cruiserweight world rankings. His fight against Mike Tyson was one of the most watched sporting events ever, but it was a fizzer on a dark day for boxing. Paul's lone loss came against boxer Tommy Fury in early 2023, and the rest of his opponents have been washed up boxers, or former MMA and NBA stars. To his credit, Paul has created an empire and built up his boxing company Most Valuable Promotions, championing women's boxing and putting on all-female fight cards. The female fight extravaganza at Madison Square Garden last weekend, that saw Australia's Cherneka Johnson become undisputed world champion and Katie Taylor complete a trilogy clean sweep over Amanda Serrano, wouldn't have been possible without Paul's backing. 'I want tougher fighters, I want to be world champion,' Paul said after the win over Chavez Jr, including some of the biggest names in the cruiserweight division. 'Zurdo (Gilbert Ramirez) looked slow as sh*t tonight, that'd be easy work,' Paul said. 'I want everybody. Badou Jack, Anthony Joshua, Gervonta (Davis), and Tommy (Fury), stop running. 'I'm just getting warmed up in this sh*t. I'm staying active and fighting everybody.' One opponent that would certainly wet the appetite is Australia's Jai Opetaia, the current IBF world cruiserweight champion who has won his last three fights via knockout or stoppage. The 30-year-old is undefeated with 28-0 record (22 KOs) and he is eyeing a unification world title fight against Mexico's Ramirez, who holds the WBA and WBO cruiserweight belts. But now Paul is world ranked, could we see Opetaia fight the YouTuber? It's unlikely in the short term given top level professional boxers are giving Paul a wide berth, conscious of their reputation taking a battering for even stepping in the ring with him. However, a fight against Paul would land a massive payday for Opetaia, who is Australia's best boxer but relatively unknown among mainstream Aussie sport fans. 'You'd want to make sure you're in your seat before the fight starts,' AFL great and Main Event commentator Jonathan Brown told about the prospect of a fight between Paul and Opetaia. 'Jake Paul's obviously done an amazing job getting publicity around the world, but I don't think any boxer is in the same conversation as Jai Opetaia at cruiserweight.' Opinion was split on a potential Paul vs Opetaia fight on a recent poll on sport Facebook page, which received thousands of comments. One reader commented: 'Jake Paul would never stand a chance.' A second said: 'That's a Jake Paul fight I'd watch!' A third said: 'Easy pay day … unless Jai signs the dive clause contract …' A fourth said: 'How much will Paul pay his opponents to be world champion. Let's see him fight opponents in their prime with out a 'take a dive' contract.' A fifth said: 'I'd actually like to see JP get served one helluva hiding.' Another added: 'No way. Jai is a professional cruiser weight undefeated IBF and ring magazine champ. He is on his mission of unifying all the belts of the division but those chickens are still running from him. Paul can find an opponent at the WWE.' The next 12 to 24 months could be massive for Opetaia — if he unifies the cruiserweight division against Ramirez, the next logical step would be moving up to heavyweight with an eye to fighting the likes of Oleksandr Usyk. 'He's an amazing fighter,' Brown said. 'He's the No. 1 Australian fighter at the moment and hopefully his profile especially here in Australia can grow. 'He's an amazing boxer and who knows, he could go up (a division). 'Usyk started at cruiserweight, we've seen some of the great heavyweights start at cruiserweight or even lower divisions, like (Evander) Holyfield. 'Maybe Jai Opetaia can follow the same path? He's cut a swathe through the cruiserweight division. If he can unify that, then who knows, could he go up another level to the big boys? 'It's a pretty exciting journey for Jai. He looks like a fantastic fella, tremendous character and him whole family should be very proud of him.' It's a massive weekend of top tier boxing this weekend, with Tim Tszyu taking on Sebastian Fundora in Las Vegas on Sunday in a rematch more than a year after his gut-wrenching loss. Brown is in Vegas as part of Main Event's coverage and said the stage is set for Tszyu to exact revenge and get 'redemption' after two losses in 2024 threatened to derail his career.
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Jake Paul is boxing's newest power broker. Taylor v Serrano was his proof of concept
On Friday night, 11 July, Katie Taylor earned the clear-cut win that had eluded her in two previous victories by controversial decision over Amanda Serrano. Fighting before a sold-out crowd of 19,721 on the first all-women's boxing card ever at Madison Square Garden, Taylor outboxed her longtime rival and solidified her status as one of the greatest women boxers of all time. The evening was a celebration of women's boxing and also marked a significant step forward for Most Valuable Promotions (Jake Paul's promotional company), which orchestrated, produced and marketed the event. Paul is a highly visible social media influencer with 28.4m followers on Instagram and 20.9m subscribers to his YouTube channel. He and Nakisa Bidarian (who was once the UFC's chief strategy and chief financial officer) met in 2019 when Bidarian began planning the 2020 exhibition between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones for Triller. Paul had only one fight on his resume at the time – a victory over social media personality Ali Eson Gib. But Bidarian signed him for the primary support bout beneath Tyson-Jones, and Jake knocked out former NBA basketball player Nate Robinson in the second round. The following year, he and Bidarian founded MVP. Bidarian has a reputation for being hard-working, abrasive and smart. One person who has worked with him says, 'Nakisa always thinks he's the smartest person in the room, and very often that's true. But he has the personality of a porcupine and can be difficult to deal with.' That said; another person who has worked with Bidarian opines, 'Nakisa is a hard negotiator but he's always professional. He thinks creatively outside the box. And once he makes a deal, he lives up to it. He doesn't look at a contract as the starting point for a new round of negotiations, which distinguishes him from a lot of people in boxing.' MVP calls itself a managerial company. But like Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions (another 'managerial' company), it functions as a promoter. In recent years, MVP has promoted numerous small fight cards on DAZN. But its greatest success has come with Jake Paul's fights. Now it's trying to build on Paul's social media presence and ring exploits to establish a promotional company that isn't reliant on Jake fighting to turn a profit. Paul's ring career has blurred the line between social media influencers and traditional boxers. After knocking out Gib and Robinson, he won four more fights against a string of aging former MMA combatants before losing a decision to Tommy Fury. That was followed by five more wins, the most notable of which was an eight-round decision over 58-year-old Mike Tyson last November. Two weeks ago, he decisioned an unmotivated, out-of-shape, long-past-his-prime Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Paul has the ring skills of a club fighter. That merits respect. But now that the novelty of his fighting has worn off, he needs a dance partner to attract a large audience willing to pay big money to watch him fight. Tyson-Paul fit that profile to perfection. The fight was marred by a lack of serious PED testing and questionable medical-clearance standards for Tyson. But it drew 72,300 fans to AT&T Stadium in Texas. The live gate surpassed $18m, making it the largest on-site gate ever in the United States for a fight card held outside of Las Vegas. It was also the first live professional sports event ever on Netflix and the most-streamed sports event of all time. More than 60m households around the world watched it. That made Taylor-Serrano II (which was on the undercard of Tyson-Paul) the most-watched women's sporting event in US history. Building on that success, Netflix purchased rights to stream Taylor-Serrano III as well as the upcoming 13 September Saudi-backed encounter between Canelo Álvarez and Terence Crawford. Paul has mastered the art of making money through social media. 'We've been fortunate to have Jake as the head of our spear,' Bidarian acknowledges. 'Social media is the most important currency in the world today because the vast majority of Gen Z and younger get their news, get their content, get their updates from social media.' But once Paul stops boxing, MVP's biggest money-making vehicle will be gone. Jake simply showing up for someone else's fight that he's promoting won't create much wealth. 'They're trying to develop other stars to fill the void,' says a manager who has done business with MVP. 'But most of their young fighters aren't very good. Other than Amanda Serrano, they haven't signed a fighter who can generate big money. And Amanda has to be paired with someone like Katie Taylor to sell.' Bidarian is believed to be trying to raise capital from outside sources to expand MVP. Meanwhile, the company is working to establish a reputation as the place for elite women boxers to be and build what Bidarian calls 'a cohesive unfragmented women's boxing program'. In recent months, it has announced a series of high-profile signings and hopes to launch an all-women's boxing series. 'Women's boxing might not become as popular as men's boxing,' Bidarian acknowledges. 'But it can carry its own weight.' Meanwhile, there's a huge plus to what MVP is doing. It's generating the cash through live gate receipts, pay-per-view buys, license fees, sponsorships and other income streams to cover what Paul and the company are paid. No big loser is keeping MVP afloat, which is an all-too-common formula in the boxing business today. That brings us to Taylor-Serrano III. Most boxing trilogies result from the first two fights between the combatants being split. Here the trilogy came about because, even though Taylor emerged victorious on the judges' scorecards in Taylor-Serrano I and II, they were exceptionally good fights. And many knowledgeable observers thought that Serrano deserved the decision in one or both of them. Taylor-Serrano I was a watershed moment for women's boxing. Promoted by Eddie Hearn, it was contested at Madison Square Garden on 30 April 2022, before a sellout crowd of 19,187 and engendered a live gate of $1,450,180. The atmosphere was electric. The action was heated. Taylor won a 97-93, 96-93, 94-96 verdict. Taylor-Serrano II (on the undercard of Tyson-Paul) was just as enthralling. Once again, Taylor prevailed; this time by a slender 95-94, 95-94, 95-94 margin. On both occasions, Serrano was remarkably gracious in defeat and accepted her loss without public complaint. But her resentment showed at the 9 April kick-off press conference for her third encounter with Taylor. Not one to shy away from hype, host Ariel Helwani began the press conference by calling it 'one of the most important press conferences in combat sports history'. Eventually the fighters had their say. Serrano called Taylor a great champion and said she respected her in and out of the ring. Katie responded, 'There's no animosity on my side. I'm just here to fight.' But things got testy when Serrano said that she'd wanted 12 three-minute rounds for their upcoming fight rather than the 10 two-minute rounds that are traditional for women's championship bouts and claimed that Taylor had reneged on a promise to accept that format. Taylor countered that she'd declined the request because the WBC wouldn't sanction the fight on those terms and added, 'The challenger shouldn't be dictating the terms of the fight. Amanda's not in a position to dictate and Amanda's not in a position to change the format of women's boxing.' That pushed Serrano's buttons and she turned to the judging of the first two fights, declaring, 'The world has eyes. They saw what they saw. It sucks that three judges see something completely different. But millions of people saw it another way.' 'I'm not interested in what Amanda says about the fight,' Taylor countered. 'I'm only interested in what the judges say about the fight. I am 2-and-0 here. I was the deserved winner. Here we are again, having a silly conversation because you're trying to create a narrative that you were robbed in that fight. That's not OK, Amanda.' 'A lot of times I let those comments go,' Taylor said afterward. 'But enough is enough of all the silly comments and the complaints over the decision and stuff. I'm 2-and-0 against her. She actually feels like she won that fight, which is not correct. She wants to walk to the ring second. She wants to be announced second. It's absolutely ridiculous. After I beat her a third time, I don't want any more complaints.' Fight week offered the usual mix of media workouts, photo ops and other promotional activities. Serrano gave the impression of enjoying it. Taylor is on the shy side and would rather train and fight than talk. MVP announced that the event would 'break the official Guinness World Records title for the most world championship belts ever contested on a single fight card, male or female, with 17 world titles on the line across five bouts'. But while fighters and networks care about the belts, most fight fans don't. Championships were devalued in boxing long ago. And that's particularly true of women's boxing. Meanwhile, Ariel Helwani upped the ante at the final pre-fight press conference, calling the event 'the greatest fight card of all time'. Some of the undercard bouts that preceded Taylor-Serrano III were competitive and spirited. Others weren't. Of particular note, Shadasia Green won a 96-93, 95-94, 93-96 split-decision over Savannah Marshall in an action fight that saw both women dig deep and could have gone either way on the judges' scorecards. Finally it was time for the main event. Taylor-Serrano III was for all four of Taylor's 140lb belts. But as a concession to Serrano, there was a 136lb contract weight. The high stakes and enthusiastic crowd (which leaned toward Serrano) gave the bout high drama. But the action was far more muted than in their first two encounters. This time around, Taylor put on a defensive boxing clinic. The first three rounds were tactically fought with both women probing for openings and finding little to exploit. A judge could have scored them either way. Taylor's game plan was clear. She had no intention of engaging in firefight exchanges. She would move, box and pick up points when and where she could. She fought a smart, measured, disciplined fight with side-to-side movement that exposed Serrano's limitations as a boxer. And Amanda had no Plan B to break through Katie's defensive shield. Serrano clearly won round six. But other than that, her stalking was largely ineffective aggression. Two of the judges scored the fight 97-93 for Taylor, which was on the mark. The third tally (95-95) was bad judging. 'The whole game plan,' Taylor said afterward, 'was to not let her feet set. I knew I was capable of a performance like that in the other two fights as well. But the two fights previously ended up as complete wars, and I came out of the ring battered and bruised and I'm thinking, 'Why am I just standing there, fighting?'' Putting that comment in perspective; Serrano landed 173 punches to Taylor's 147 in their first encounter. In Taylor-Serrano II, those numbers increased to 324 to 217 in Amanda's favor. This time around, each fighter landed a meager 70 punches. Both women were gracious in the aftermath of the fight. 'I'm so grateful for Amanda Serrano,' Taylor said. 'What an amazing champion. And we created history together three times. My name will be embedded with hers forever. I'm very very happy about that.' Serrano responded in kind, saying, 'Thank you Katie Taylor for an incredible three fights and 30 rounds. It has truly been an honor to face you.' As for the future; Taylor's voice is starting to sound softer and a bit less crisp and clear than it once did. Serrano is showing the wear and tear of 52 professional fights. Each woman has earned life-changing money. Their health shouldn't be trifled with. It would be nice if they both retired now. Thomas Hauser's email address is thomashauserwriter@ His next book – The Most Honest Sport: Two More Years Inside Boxing – will be published this month and is available for preorder. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing's highest honor - induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
The 42
6 days ago
- Sport
- The 42
Nearly 6 million viewers watch Taylor-Serrano 3
THERE WERE nearly six million global viewers for the third fight between Ireland's Katie Taylor and Puerto Rican fighter Amanda Serrano, according to a release by the event's producer, Most Valuable Promotions. The release added that the Bray native's 10-round majority decision victory to retain her super lightweight title is the 'most-watched professional women's sports event of 2025″. The bout registered an estimated average minute audience (AMA) of nearly 6 million (Live+1) global viewers from opening to closing bell. The estimated AMA for the US alone was 4.2 million viewers. Advertisement The event, which took place in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,721 people and generated a $2.63M gate (the highest ever for a women's boxing card) at Madison Square Garden was #1 on Netflix in the US, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and made the Top 10 in 43 countries. Taylor and Serrano, meanwhile, are the highest-paid female fighters of all time, receiving record-breaking purses for the event.
