DAZN And PBC Strike A Landmark Deal — Boxing's Broadcast War Is Finally Over

• DAZN and Premier Boxing Champions announced a landmark broadcast deal on Thursday, bringing PBC's stable — including David Benavidez, Errol Spence Jr and Sebastian Fundora — to the platform
• PBC was the final major holdout: every significant promoter in the sport now runs through DAZN, with PBC's biggest pay-per-views staying available on Prime Video
• Luke's verdict: for the fans this is a proper win on convenience and fight-making — but one gatekeeper for a whole sport should make everyone a little nervous

Right Then — The Last Domino Falls

Right then, it's done. DAZN and Premier Boxing Champions announced a landmark deal on Thursday, and with that single press release the great broadcast war that has carved boxing up for the best part of a decade is over. PBC was the last major promoter in the sport whose fights didn't run through DAZN. Not any more. Matchroom, Golden Boy, Top Rank, Queensberry, Boxxer — and now PBC. One platform. Every major stable. Let that sink in for a minute, because we will not see a shift this big again for a long time.

What The DAZN PBC Deal Actually Includes

Let's not beat around the bush about what's on the table here. The DAZN PBC deal brings the whole PBC roster onto the platform — and it is a proper roster. David Benavidez, the most avoided man in boxing. Errol Spence Jr, back from the wilderness. Sebastian Fundora and his five-foot arms. Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz, who has never been in a dull fight in his life. The marquee pay-per-views will still be available through Prime Video, so the biggest nights get the widest shop window, but the engine room of PBC's schedule now lives on DAZN.

First Up: Spence vs Tszyu On July 25

And they're not hanging about. The first event under the new agreement is a genuinely tasty one — Errol Spence Jr against Tim Tszyu in Sydney on July 25, a fight we've been covering all fight-week long. After that comes Rolly Romero defending his WBA welterweight strap against Teofimo Lopez in Vegas on August 22, with more PBC cards pencilled for September and October. That's a statement schedule, not a soft launch.

Why This Is Brilliant For Fans

Make no mistake, for the paying punter this is mostly good news. For years the biggest problem in boxing wasn't the fighters — it was the walls between them. The best super middleweight on one platform, his obvious dance partner on another, and never the twain shall meet because two sets of executives couldn't share a room. Those walls just came down. When every major promoter answers to the same broadcast partner, the excuses for not making the big fights get very thin, very fast. One subscription instead of four is not a small thing either, and if you know, you know — the multi-app scavenger hunt on fight night has been a disgrace for years.

The Bit That Should Worry You

Now for the cold water, because I'm not here to write press releases. When one company controls the pipeline for an entire sport, that company holds all the cards. Rights fees set the market, and there's no rival bidder left to keep anyone honest. If DAZN's prices creep up — and streaming prices only ever creep one way — where exactly are you going to go? Consolidation is brilliant right up until the moment it isn't. Boxing has traded a messy, expensive free-for-all for a single gatekeeper, and history says gatekeepers eventually act like it.

My Verdict

Time to call it. This deal is a net win for boxing, and it's not particularly close. The fights that get made over the next eighteen months — fights that were promotionally impossible six months ago — will prove it. Benavidez against the best of Matchroom's 168-pounders, the welterweight and super welterweight scenes finally untangled, undisputed titles actually meaning undisputed. That's the prize, and it's a proper one. But keep one eye open. The day the subscription price jumps and the big fights start hiding behind an extra paywall, remember this column told you the honeymoon wouldn't last forever. For now though? Boxing's broadcast civil war is over, and the sport is better for it.