Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing announced a five-year extension with DAZN on Wednesday, doubling down on plans to make the streaming giant boxing’s default destination.
Matchroom Boxing and the streaming site, partners since the platform launched in late 2018, confirmed a new agreement running to 2031, covering both the UK and the US.
The deal is expected to keep stars such as Anthony Joshua, Katie Taylor, Conor Benn, Shakur Stevenson, Dmitry Bivol, Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Ben Whittaker fighting under the DAZN banner and barring them from retirement or fresh promotional deals elsewhere.
Hearn framed the renewal as a push for simplicity in a sport split between networks and nations.
He said: “I wanted one home – I didn’t want to be travelling around the world telling different countries about different broadcasters where they can watch.
“Wherever you are in the world, it’s the global home of boxing.”
For DAZN, that ‘one home’ message is the selling point as it chases global ownership of the sport rather than one-off licensing.
DAZN executive Ed McCarthy called the agreement “absolutely fundamental to be the home of boxing”, insisting the priority is the level of talent and the product, not simply hitting a number of events.
McCarthy said: “We don’t think about the dates. We think about talent in the room and what we can do.”
He added that the partnership has accelerated from pandemic-era firefighting into an international rhythm of regular shows.
McCarthy said: “It’s very easy to forget five years ago, we were in the middle of COVID.
“But now where we are, it’s pretty much every weekend, multiple countries, multiple nights.”
Hearn repeatedly returned to what the deal provides behind the scenes: guaranteed dates, clear planning, and a pathway that keeps fighters active and visible.
He said: “We have to deliver for our fighters and our promises. To do that, we need a liquidity of dates and you need a long-term deal.
“Every fighter that we represent knows that we have five more years. That’s a minimum of 30, right? Now we want 40, we want 200 shows over the next five years.”
The launch also put faces to the partnership, with Matchroom Boxing highlighting a 2026 slate led by newly crowned IBF champion Josh Kelly and the returning Callum Smith.
Kelly called his title win a “full circle moment” and stressed how hard it was to secure the defining fight in the first place.
Kelly said: “No one wanted that fight.
“When we said we wanted him, Eddie and Matchroom with DAZN stuck their neck on the line.”
Smith, who fights David Morrell in Liverpool on April 18, underlined why a consistent broadcast base matters as he aims to become the two-weight world champion.
He said: “ To go and challenge for the world title, or be elevated, depending on what happens.
Champions to need to be vocal and to be fighting back home is massive thing.”
Further down the bill, Matchroom also rolled out its next wave, with George Liddard set to headline the Copper Box on March 21 against Tyler Denny.
Cruiserweight prospect Pat Brown will return on April 3 against Vasil Ducar with Brown, five fights in, welcoming the attention but he insisted he was grounded.
He said: “ Nerves are good. People try and act hard, saying ‘I’m not nervous’ and all that, but the lying in itself nerves.
“It’s your body preparing for war. If I didn’t have nerves, that’s the day I’m leaving the sport.”
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