Latest / Between The Rounds Official / The W Problem: Does Women's Boxing Need Its Own Lane?
Transcript
- Sarah: I just touched down in Dublin from New York after an overnight flight and I just learned about the MVP announcement at the garden. So today MVP announced MVPW, a dedicated women's boxing platform with a multi-year ESPN deal running through 2028. It was held at Madison Square Garden with a host of female talent from Amanda Serrano, Alicia Baumgartner, Halle Holmes, to name a few. On the surface, historic, but I've been sitting with this all day. And the more I look at the strategy, the more questions I have. Not about the fighters. purely about the architecture and the positioning of all of this. Because the question isn't whether women's boxing deserves a platform. You all know, I believe it does. The question is, does separating it into its own brand get us closer to equality or does it build a very expensive ceiling? MVP, Most Valuable Promotions, co-founded by Jake Paul and Akisa Baderian, launched MVPW today, a standalone global platform for women's boxing. They've secured a multi-year media deal with ESPN, linear and streaming. That's significant because ESPN hasn't been in boxing since their deal with Top Rank ended last year. Three events are already locked. April 5th in London with Dubois versus Harper. April 17 at MSG with Bumgarner defending her unified title, fighting 12 three-minute rounds, technically the men's rules, and May 30 in El Paso. with Stephanie Han versus Holly Holmes in a rematch. The roster is stacked. We've got some great talent across MVP promotion from Amanda Serrano, Shaniqua Johnson, Ellie Scotney, O'Shea Jones, Ebony Bridges, 43 fighters deep. MVP have been building towards this. We had the Taylor Serrano at MSG in 2022, a complete sellout. And then the trilogy on Netflix hit 74 million global viewers. The data is real, the investment is real, but the strategy, now this is where it gets complicated. Baderian has said that there is no functional difference between their male and female athletes, that the gold ⁓ W is embedded inside the MVP logo itself. But think about what MVPW actually is. It a separate brand. separate cards, separate identity. If there is no functional difference, why the separate lane? Now MVP is referencing The Caitlin Clark effect. The idea that a breakout star can pull an entire gender specific league into the mainstream. So their hope is that the rise of women's sport holistically will draw a new fan base into women's boxing. But boxing isn't basketball. WNBA has a structural reason to exist. Men and women don't compete in the same entity In boxing, the product is already built for integration, unified cards, shared platforms, same arenas, same broadcast, same night. Taylor and Serrano first fight, headlined MSG, not as a women's card, as a boxing card. And that's what made it historic. So I keep coming back to the same question. Is MVPW a launch pad or a silo? Now here's why the announcement matters beyond MVP. Look at the two most powerful forces in boxing right now. We've got Turkey Alishek and Riyad Sezen, the biggest checkbook in the sport. He's been considered the promoter of the year two years running from a host of fights from Fury versus vs. Better Veev, Canelo vs. Crawford, the WBC Grand Prix, 128 fighters, 41 countries, 4 weight division, all male. Not to mention the back-to-back ring magazine fight cards. They've staged the biggest cards in boxing over the past two years. And how many women have headlined? We had Skye Nicholson versus Raven Chapman in Saudi, which felt like this milestone, but it was just a moment, not a structure. And then there's Zufa Boxing, Dana White, TKO, Saudi Capital. They've run four events since January, all male roster. And while he said women's fights will come, the will come isn't a strategy, it's just a placeholder. UFC was literally built on women's MMA. Ronda Rousey didn't get her own league. She headlined the same same platform, same stakes. So when the two biggest entities in boxing are deprioritizing women, whether by design or by delay, that's not just a gap. And MVP, while they're stepping in, And I want to be fair to what MVP is doing. The fighters they've signed are elite. The ESPN deal gives them legitimate distribution. The events are in real venues with real production value. And there's an argument that a dedicated platform gives women's boxing the spotlight it would never get sharing a card when it's the co-main event at best. But I've been in rooms where this strategy plays out in advertising, in media. We're given our own lane, which can look like empowerment. And sure, sometimes it is, but sometimes it's just a way to keep the main stage exactly the same. And so the question I'm asking, can MVPW consistently sell arenas without the built-in audience of a unified card? MSG is one thing, but what about event 11, even event 20? Is this bringing us new fans or asking existing boxing fans to choose between two viewing schedules? And the biggest question, is this a bridge to integration or is the plan to keep the W separate forever? Because a bridge has an end date. And if MVPW is permanent, then we've just accepted that women's boxing is a different product. And I certainly don't think it is. I'm not here to tear down what MVP announced today. They're doing more for women's boxing than almost anybody in the sport right now. And that's absolute fact. And I've got nothing but respect for them. But I more than a dedicated platform. I want true integration that doesn't need a qualifier. I want RIA season cards with men and women side by side. because the work is the same. I want Zufa to stop saying women will come and start putting them on cards I want the WBC Grand Prix to have women's division. Not next time, now. MVPW is betting its house that the W is its own economy. And maybe it is. But the real win isn't a separate economy. The real win is when the W disappears because it was never needed in the first place. This is Between the Rounds. Thank you for joining.