Boxing

Shakur Stevenson Puts Spotlight On Declining Top Rank Viewership Numbers Since His Departure

WBC lightweight champion believes Top Rank's declining numbers are due to his departure from the promotion
Jaren Kawada|
IMAGO / Torsten Helmke

After eight years of airing on ESPN, Top Rank Boxing will have to find a new network partnership beginning in August.

Shakur Stevenson believes that is because he is no longer with the promotion.

Stevenson has spent the bulk of his career to this point with Bob Arum and Top Rank, but has not fought for the company since outpointing Artem Harutyanyan in July 2024. Since then, Stevenson believes his departure and subsequent signing with Matchroom Boxing influenced the promotion's declining ratings.

"It's crazy cause Top Rank Boxing on ESPN TV ain't been the same since I been gone," Stevenson tweeted. "I damn near had [an] average of 1 million or more views every time I fought. And this ain't no shot at neither Top Rank or ESPN either I'm just speaking the facts. #Levels"

Just six months after Stevenson signed with Matchroom, ESPN informed Top Rank that it would not renew its contract, which had recently expired. Losing the 24-0 champion certainly did not help, but there is no telling how long the network had been wanting to sever the partnership.

What is not debatable is that Top Rank has struggled to attract viewers since Stevenson left. They have not reached 600,000 views in a single event in 2025, according to US TVDB.

Stevenson made sure fans knew that regardless of their bitter divorce, he still respects Top Rank for everything they did for him in building his career.

"Respect to both companies tho I appreciate them also for everything they did for me regardless of the trials and tribulations that came with it," Stevenson wrote in an ensuing tweet.

Top Rank currently without broadcast deal

Top Rank's deal with ESPN ended with a July 26 fight card headlined by Xander Zayas winning the WBO super welterweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Jorge Garcia Perez. The company is now without a network to air its next event, which has yet to be scheduled.

Shakur Stevenso
Jim Krajewski, Reno Gazette Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Although Top Rank lacked the big-name stars to gain significant traction, particularly with Vasiliy Lomachenko's recent retirement, fans appreciated the company's accessibility. Their deal with ESPN made the promotion's events the easiest to watch due to their availability on cable television.

The majority of boxing events are either available on DAZN, a subscription service, or exclusively on pay-per-view.

Since ESPN ended the partnership, Arum has teased an impending deal with a streaming service. The 93-year-old CEO acknowledged that the "future of television is in streaming" and claimed to be negotiating with a notable platform.

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Jaren Kawada
JAREN KAWADA

Jaren Kawada is a combat sports writer who specializes in betting, with over five years of experience in boxing and MMA. When he is not covering the sport, Kawada is an avid MMA, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and boxing practitioner. Kawada has previous bylines with ClutchPoints, Sportskeeda MMA, BetSided and FanSided MMA. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, Kawada has a B.A. in Sports Media from Butler University and now resides in Denver, Colorado.

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