Matchroom Boxing has long been one of Matchroom Sports’ most significant producer of boxing events, yet the promotion has had a tough past two years after several of its renowned fighters lost. Following the recent defeat of budding British flyweight star Galal Yafai, Matchroom’s new mission statement couldn’t be more significant as they appear to acknowledge the inevitability of fighters being defeated and are now changing their message to fans and boxers alike; denoting themselves as a promotion where opportunities for greatness are as limitless as the hazards of unfortunate losses.
Anthony Joshua, Conor Benn, Skye Nicolson and Galal Yafai are just some of Matchroom Boxing’s well-known names that have had to endure crippling losses, arguably deteriorating the reputation of one of Great Britain’s best promotions.
But no longer does Matchroom appear afraid for their fighters to be put into career-defining challenges.
Likely due to their stars frequently losing, Matchroom has opted to rebrand their promotion that has long been known as one of staples of British boxing.
In a pivotal announcement made yesterday, Matchroom is clear in its intent to corner the global market with a multitude of deals and signings that occurred over just the twelve months suggesting they are transitioning into a role as the potential leading global promotion.
While British fighters are still prominent within, co-promotional deals with fighters such as Dmitry Bivol and Subriel Matias have made Matchroom much more present on the global stage.
Yet that in itself comes with challenges that the promotion does not appear to be overlooking.
The defeats of several of its stars, particularly Matchroom’s disastrous promotional defeat to Queensberry Promotions last year, aligns with the competitive nature of Riyadh Season and The Ring-sponsored cards many of the promotion’s fighters competed on, but these experiences appear to have been taken into account by the promotion.
The overall message by the British promotion remains vague. Words used such as “iconic” and “new frontier” sound pretty but are ultimately insignificant in the face of what Matchroom is really trying to say. Both Matchroom Sports chairman, Eddie Hearn, and the current head of the company’s boxing promotion Matchroom Boxing, Frank Smith, have yet to articulate exactly what these new changes imply ― yet enough hints are drawn to make but one conclusion.
That Matchroom is not leaving anytime soon.
Given the shift in boxing where competiveness has increased in lieu of the investments of Turki Alalshikh, someone who Matchroom is closely partnered with, the promotion only recently extended their broadcasting deal with DAZN and have not lost a step business-wise.
As such, it is reasonable to conclude the promotion is all too willing to put their fighters on the line in bouts that, while risky, pay off even more when the same fighters come out on top. A core of Matchroom’s most popular boxers have experienced the limelight that comes with victory and the opposite when defeated.
And that is exactly what Matchroom seems to have understood as it appears to be rebranding itself as a promotion not afraid to provide their fighters with the challenges they deserve. Win or lose, the ultimate competitive nature of the sport denotes a fighter fights the best.
And as the last two years have shown, Matchroom provides exactly those opportunities that forces a fighter to confront the reality of their own ability in the toughest challenges of their careers.
