Sources: PBC, Amazon Prime Video set date to kick off new deal
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While it has been quiet publicly, Premier Boxing Champions and Amazon Prime Video are working behind the scenes as they ramp up for the launch of their new partnership, which was announced in early December.
When the deal was unveiled, those involved said the first event of the “multiyear” deal would begin in March with a commitment to 12 to 14 shows annually.
The first event of the deal is slated to take place on March 30, sources with knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite on Thursday.
Which fights will be on the show have not been determined because it has not been settled on if the card will be a pay-per-view, which is likely, according to the sources, or a non-PPV. It is dependent in part on Amazon finishing building out the platform that will handle the pay-per-view purchases, one of the sources said.
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Also being dealt with are the production particulars, including settling on a broadcast team, a source said.
PBC founder Al Haymon needed a new platform because Paramount Global, the parent company of longtime PBC broadcast partner Showtime, announced in mid-October that it would shutter the Showtime Sports department at the end of 2023. That included getting rid of the network’s boxing franchise that was the department’s cornerstone for the entirety of its 37-year existence.
Amazon Prime Video is available to nearly 160 million customers in the United States through their Amazon Prime accounts.
One pay-per-view card PBC and Amazon Prime Video will present will be headlined by Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez’s next undisputed super middleweight title defense, which is slated for May 4, the Cinco de Mayo holiday weekend.
Among the items on the agenda for the next Nevada State Athletic Commission meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday, is a date request from PBC house promoter TGB Promotions for a pay-per-view event on May 4 in Las Vegas to take place at either T-Mobile Arena or the MGM Grand.
That is for the Alvarez event, although who he will fight is not yet known. It will be the second fight of the three-fight deal Alvarez struck with Haymon, which began with Alvarez’s one-sided rout of junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo, who moved up two weight classes, to retain the 168-pound crown on Sept. 30 at T-Mobile Arena in the main event of the second-to-last Showtime PPV card.
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Pbc feels like it's on life support. 12-14 events a year including ppv and they have to cover production costs. At this rate their supplemental deal will be announced for UFCFightPass.
As always A+ stuff Freak. One stop shop my man.