Most Valuable Promotions announced on Friday the launch of MVPW, a dedicated women’s boxing platform, alongside a multi-year broadcast agreement with ESPN as the U.S. home for MVPW events through 2028. The announcement was made at a press conference at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The deal returns boxing to ESPN for the first time since the network’s eight-year partnership with Top Rank expired in July 2025. It also marks the completion of an unprecedented broadcast portfolio for MVP, co-founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian in 2021, which now spans Netflix, DAZN, Sky Sports, and ESPN.
“Since inception MVP has strategically focused on creating an umbrella brand as the global home for women’s boxing, with the best fighters in the world, that engages existing boxing fans and attracts untapped fan demographics that embrace women’s sport, and today, we proudly enter a new era,” Paul and Bidarian said in a joint statement.
Rosalyn Durant, ESPN’s Executive Vice President of Programming and Acquisitions, said the network was eager to showcase the talent. “MVPW brings together some of the most accomplished and dynamic championship athletes in boxing, competing on a stage that reflects the magnitude of their talent,” Durant said. “We’re proud to bring these championship matchups to ESPN and the ESPN App and further elevate women’s boxing for fans across the country.”
Three Cards Announced
MVP unveiled three events under the new MVPW banner, each sequentially branded to establish a year-round calendar.
MVPW-01 — April 5, Olympia Events, London (Sky Sports UK / ESPN App U.S.): WBC lightweight champion Caroline Dubois (12-0-1, 5 KOs) faces WBO titleholder Terri Harper (16-2-2, 6 KOs) in a 10-round unification bout. Unified super bantamweight champion Ellie Scotney (11-0) meets WBA champion Mayelli Flores (13-1-1, 4 KOs) for the undisputed title. Chantelle Cameron (21-1, 8 KOs) moves up two divisions to face Michaela Kotaskova (11-0-4, 2 KOs) for the vacant WBO junior middleweight belt.
MVPW-02 — April 17, Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden, New York (ESPN linear and ESPN App): Unified super featherweight champion Alycia Baumgardner (17-1, 7 KOs) defends against Bo Mi Re Shin (19-3-3, 10 KOs) in the main event, contested under men’s rules with 12 three-minute rounds for the WBA, WBO, and IBF titles at 130 pounds. Unified super middleweight champion Shadasia Green (16-1, 11 KOs) defends against Lani Daniels (11-4-2, 1 KO) in the co-main event.
MVPW-03 — May 30, El Paso, Texas (ESPN linear and ESPN App): WBA lightweight champion Stephanie Han (12-0, 3 KOs) rematches former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Holly Holm (34-3-3, 9 KOs). Han won their first meeting by technical decision after an accidental clash of heads ended the fight in the seventh round.
MSG Partnership and Roster Depth
The announcement also included a strategic multi-year partnership with Madison Square Garden Entertainment, with the stated goal of staging annual MVPW events at the Garden over the next three years. The deal positions New York as a cornerstone market for the platform.
MVPW currently features 43 female fighters. Beyond the athletes competing on the first three cards, the roster includes unified featherweight champion Amanda Serrano, undisputed bantamweight champion Cherneka Johnson, WBC featherweight champion Tiara Brown, IBF junior middleweight champion Oshae Jones, Ebanie Bridges, and Tamm Thibeault. Serrano was present at Friday’s press conference but did not have a specific date announced, telling media she was eyeing a particular card and had never fought on ESPN.
The majority of MVPW events will air on ESPN’s linear channels, a distinction worth noting. In an era when most new boxing deals default to streaming-only distribution, ESPN’s commitment to putting MVPW on traditional television represents a significant investment in discoverability for women’s boxing.
Bidarian’s UFC Playbook
Bidarian, the former UFC CFO, referenced his experience introducing women’s MMA to the UFC through Ronda Rousey when explaining the strategic thinking behind MVPW. “I was fortunate enough to be there when we introduced women’s MMA to UFC and to see the impact that Ronda Rousey had was beyond eye-opening,” Bidarian said at the press conference.
The MVPW branding — embedding a gold “W” directly within the existing MVP logo — signals that women’s boxing is a permanent structural pillar of the company, not a separate initiative or afterthought. Each event carries a sequential number, mirroring the UFC’s numbered event model that Bidarian helped build during his tenure there.
The Bigger Picture
The ESPN deal arrives at a pivotal moment in boxing’s broadcast landscape. The network lost both Top Rank and the UFC within a span of six months in 2025, leaving a massive void in its combat sports programming. Meanwhile, Zuffa Boxing operates on Paramount+, PBC fights on Amazon Prime Video, and Matchroom and Golden Boy stage events on DAZN. As BoxingScene reported in January, Top Rank and Golden Boy both remain without broadcast homes, raising questions about the long-term viability of traditional promotional models.
MVP now holds active broadcast agreements with four major platforms: Netflix for mega-events, DAZN for its Most Valuable Prospects developmental series, Sky Sports for the UK market, and ESPN for MVPW in the United States. No promotional company in boxing history has assembled a comparable multi-platform portfolio in under five years.
Tickets for MVPW-02 at Madison Square Garden on April 17 are on sale now through Ticketmaster.
