FOR Sky Sports Boxing there is life after Matchroom. Their long-term, exclusive partnership with the UK promoter will end after the Lewis Ritson show on Saturday in Newcastle. But the broadcaster will remain a significant player in boxing. They have announced a deal with US promotional powerhouse Top Rank for their slate of international cards, excluding Tyson Fury but including Shakur Stevenson, Naoya Inoue and Vasiliy Lomachenko in the coming weeks.

That should bring in a minimum of 18 international shows a year. Sky have also announced a surprise link up with a new UK promoter, Boxxerโ€™s Ben Shalom. John Wischhusen, the former head of boxing at Matchroom, will be part of that team. But this arrangement will not be exclusive. Boxxer will be expected to collaborate with other UK promoters. That should see at least 14 British shows televised a year. Both of these new deals are for four years.

โ€œ30 years and counting, 30 years and time to ramp it up again,โ€ Adam Smith, head of boxing development at Sky, said of their long term commitment to the sport. โ€œItโ€™s changing times. Itโ€™s adapting. Eddie [Hearn, Matchroom promoter] has made a decision, a hard decision to leave a base, a platform like Sky thatโ€™s really made him, thatโ€™s helped him. Heโ€™s been phenomenal, Eddie, with boxing. But donโ€™t think we havenโ€™t done our bit as well. Itโ€™s been a great relationship over the years, heโ€™s taken the DAZN angle, heโ€™s gone, heโ€™s got a whole new look over thereโ€ฆ Theyโ€™ve got their business and now weโ€™ve got ours. Weโ€™re going again. Weโ€™ve never left boxing. Weโ€™ve been there year in year out. Weโ€™ve been loyal to the sport. Weโ€™ve got a big new concept.

โ€œWe believe that weโ€™ve got the platform and weโ€™ve got the arsenal to carry boxing into a new era.โ€

โ€œNow Iโ€™m really excited. Top Rank are a huge powerhouse. Theyโ€™ve been a fantastic operation for many years. What comes with them are pound for pound greats. Regular content from the States, an ESPN platform maybe for UK fighters to go over and utilise as well. Names like Josh Taylor, Lomachenko, Inoue, weโ€™ve got so many coming thick fast already,โ€ continued Smith, speaking exclusively to Boxing News. โ€œThe other part of it is a young fresh entrepreneurial promoter in Ben Shalom, whoโ€™s wanted to try a new vision, do something different. Heโ€™s put these tournament shows on. Heโ€™s got a lot of passion.

โ€œI love the fusion of the big American powerhouse of many years and also the young, wanting to try something different fresh feel, fresh face and also the ability to work with other people. He wants to work with other promoters, heโ€™ll need to work with other promoters and we need it. Itโ€™s for the good of Sky Boxing this, which is for the good of the customers and thatโ€™s the key. Weโ€™re open for business. We want to work with different people, whether itโ€™s PBC whether itโ€™s other managers and promoters.

โ€œThere are some brilliant people behind the scenes at Sky who donโ€™t get enough credit for what weโ€™ve done. But add that with a new sort of concept, the Boxxer team, Top Rank, new people at Sky that have come in as well that are looking to give us new ideas. Bring that all together. Youโ€™ve got the traditional, youโ€™ve got the things that have really worked and the things that we feel need adapting and need changing.

โ€œWeโ€™re very confident about that. We might not have that huge Matchroom stable. But I tell you weโ€™re very, very excited that fighters and different managers and promoters are going to look at us and think thereโ€™s a platform here. Itโ€™s a platform thatโ€™s worked for many, many years in building stars, building stories, building narrative. So come on. Come and join us.โ€