PBC's move to DAZN opens the door to boxing's biggest fantasy fights

HOLLYWOOD, CA — Premier Boxing Champions officially became part of DAZN's roster of promotional partners on Thursday, and while the Teofimo Lopez-Rolly Romero welterweight title fight will carry the marquee value on August 22, the more consequential story to come out of the press conference at the Avalon in Hollywood may be everything the deal unlocks below it.

DAZN's head of boxing in North America, Britton Hardin, called PBC the last major promoter needed to bring nearly the entire sport under one roof, joining Matchroom, Queensberry, Top Rank, Golden Boy, Boxxer and Salita Promotions. TGB Promotions' Tom Brown noted the platform actually opens July 25 with Errol Spence Jr. facing Tim Tszyu in Australia, with Lopez-Romero following as the first title fight of the new relationship. Both men framed the deal as removing the biggest obstacle boxing has dealt with for years: division. Hardin put it bluntly, saying the goal is to stop keeping fighters siloed on separate networks and start building the matchups fans actually want.

Nobody made that case better than Sebastian Fundora. The WBC super welterweight titleholder, whose younger sister Gabriela has fought on DAZN for years, said the partnership finally puts every top name at 154 pounds in one place, including WBA and WBO champion Jaron 'Boots' Ennis, IBF titleholder Josh Kelly and Virgil Ortiz Jr. Fundora still has to get through his mandatory defense against Ermal Hadribeaj first, but he made clear where his focus is beyond that fight, naming Ennis as the matchup he wants at the start of 2027. He also weighed in on Ennis' win over Xander Zayas last week, saying he studied the fight closely and noticed a few things in the third round that stood out, adding that the stoppage still gave fans what they wanted.

Brandon Figueroa, fresh off a 12th-round TKO of Nick Ball in Liverpool to become a three-time world champion at 126 pounds, talked about a different kind of history. Chris Mannix pointed to a stat that has followed Figueroa's division into this fight: no unified featherweight champion in 16 years, no undisputed champion in the division in nearly 60 and that there has never been an undisputed four belt champion at 126. Figueroa said the new partnership makes those kinds of unification fights realistic in a way they were not before. Hardin confirmed early in the press conference that a Figueroa fight with fellow titleholder Bruce Carrington is high on DAZN's list once Figueroa gets past Tomoki Kameda this fall.

Jesus Ramos Jr., who has moved up from 154 to chase a middleweight title, was the most direct about what he wants next. Ramos holds the WBC interim middleweight title after outpointing Shane Mosley Jr. in December and used the presser to publicly call out full champion Carlos Adames, who is coming off a dominant decision win over Austin 'Ammo' Williams. Ramos said he does not want an interim title fight, he wants the real thing, and framed the DAZN partnership as the vehicle that finally makes it possible.

Brown made clear that mandatory obligations will come first for several of these champions before the bigger crossover fights happen, pointing out that Figueroa would not hold his current title at all if the WBA had not forced his opponent into a mandatory defense in the first place. Still, the message from every fighter on stage was the same: with the sport's biggest promoters now sharing one platform, the excuses for avoiding the best available opponent are running out.

For now, the calendar is stacked. Spence-Tszyu headlines July 25 from Australia, Lopez challenges Romero for the welterweight title August 22 in Las Vegas, and DAZN's broader 2026 slate already includes Diego Pacheco, Anthony Joshua and Claressa Shields. Fundora, Figueroa and Ramos all have mandatory business to finish first, but the fighters seated on that stage in Hollywood made it clear they see this partnership as the beginning of the fights boxing fans have been asking for.