FOX Sports and Golden Boy Promotions have reached a multi-media rights extension to televise exciting live boxing in the United States and internationally. The new multi-year agreement keeps Golden Boy Promotions’ bouts with FOX Sports for years to come, and helps establish a new Monday night boxing franchise on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), FOX Sports’ new, national multi-sport cable channel launching on Aug. 17. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“When we started Golden Boy, we made a promise to only do business with the best companies out there,” said De La Hoya, President of Golden Boy Promotions. “To be partnered with FOX on this sensational series is a great fit. We look forward to working with FOX Sports 1 for years to come in giving fans the best boxing matches available.”
“Led by the dynamic Oscar De La Hoya and its Chief Executive Officer Richard Schaefer, Golden Boy Promotions has developed a great reputation over the last several years for putting together exciting cards with top-flight fighters,” said Patrick Crakes, Senior Vice President, Programming & Research, FOX Sports. “It’s great that we’ve been able to build upon and expand what has already been a fruitful relationship that benefits multiple networks in the FOX Sports family, domestically and internationally.”
Under the new agreement FOX Sports retains exclusive domestic rights to 48 live two-hour events (featuring two or three fights per event) annually with many of Golden Boy Promotions’ brightest stars expected to be featured. FS1 is scheduling 24 live events per year, with FOX Deportes, the nation’s leading Spanish-language sports network, airing all 48 events live, an increase from 36 in the previous deal. The 24 events on FS1 will all originate in the U.S., and most are expected to run on Monday nights once the network launches.
FOX Deportes will simulcast the same 24 events as FS1 in Spanish, plus air 24 others that originate from Mexico. Once events air on FS1, each will be available for encore presentations on FOX Sports regional networks. Fox International Channels also holds exclusive rights to all 48 live fights in the Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe (excluding the U.K.) and Middle East territories. Finally, all events will be available via authenticated streaming through FOX Sports Go.
“We are thrilled to partner with FOX as the boxing provider for FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes,” added Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer. “For years, the best of boxing has been available primarily on premium cable and pay-per-view only, but our partnership with FOX Sports signifies a major step-up in exposure for the fighter, Golden Boy Promotions and the entire sport. We are confident that with our mix of world class fights and fighters combined with the reach and promotional capacities that FOX Sports provides, the sky is really the limit for us all.”
In addition to Golden Boy’s live events, all FOX Sports channels have access to 24 classic archived events from the promoter’s extensive library. Archive fights feature many of boxing biggest names, including De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, Bernard Hopkins, Canelo Alvarez, Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley.
