ESPN’s exclusive, eight-year content partnership with Hall-of-Fame promoter Bob Arum’s Top Rank Inc. will come to an end this summer. The Ring has confirmed that Arum’s company is tentatively scheduled to air its final card on ESPN on July 26. The fights and site for what will be at least a doubleheader had not been scheduled as of Tuesday afternoon. Evan Korn, director of communications and fighter development for Top Rank, declined comment when reached by The Ring.

The news of Top Rank’s split with ESPN, which was first reported Tuesday by frontofficesports.com, has been rumored within the boxing industry for several months. It is widely viewed as a negative development for the niche sport because premium cable channels HBO and Showtime stopped broadcasting boxing in 2018 and 2023 respectively and FOX essentially ended its content agreement with Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions in 2022. Multiple sources have informed The Ring that Arum and Top Rank president Todd duBoef, Arum’s stepson, have had discussions at least with representatives from Max – the streaming service that includes content from former Top Rank partner HBO, TBS and TNT – and DAZN, which works with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions and [Dmitriy] Salita Promotions. Top Rank is believed to seek multiple streaming partners with which it can work once its deal with ESPN ends. It has ascending, undefeated contenders on its roster, three of whom – lightweight Keyshawn Davis, junior middleweight Xander Zayas and lightweight Abdullah Mason – will fight Friday night at Madison Square Garden’s Theater in New York. The company also televises and streams bouts through its deal with ESPN for two of the top four fighters on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list, Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue (No. 2), the fully unified junior featherweight champ, and Russian knockout artist Artur Beterbiev (No. 4), boxing’s undisputed light heavyweight champion, as well as WBO junior welterweight champ Teofimo Lopez. The company has parted ways, however, with four-weight world champion Terence Crawford and the undefeated fighter Crawford has helped develop, unbeaten WBC lightweight champ Shakur Stevenson, and former undisputed lightweight champ Devin Haney in recent years. Crawford is ranked third on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list and Haney is rated 10th. Former WBC heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, which Top Rank also co-promoted with Warren’s company, announced his retirement for the umpteenth time last month as well. Top Rank’s deal with ESPN began in unforgettable fashion in July 2017, when Australian underdog Jeff Horn upset Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao by unanimous decision to win the WBO welterweight title at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Horn’s hometown. ESPN and Top Rank entered a new seven-year agreement in 2018 because ESPN executives were pleased with viewership that often exceeded averages above 1 million for main events in the first year of the deal. Also in 2018, the basic cable network launched ESPN+, the streaming service through which it offers live fights, press conferences, weigh-ins and shoulder programming. Keith Idec is a staff writer and columnist for The Ring. He can be reached on X @idecboxing.