The TNT Sports portfolio in the US currently includes partnerships with MLB, NHL, NCAA Division I Men\u2019s Basketball Championship, College Football Playoff games, NASCAR, Roland-Garros, and FIBA, among others. TNT was also a key presenter of NBA games from 1989 until last year but still produces the iconic “Inside the NBA” studio show that now airs on ESPN.<\/p>\n
Barry is uniquely qualified to oversee the TNT Sports content portfolio due to his 30-year tenure across the network\u2019s ecosystem. Barry has worked on every sports property in almost every role imaginable, including production assistant, associate director, producer, director, creative director and content executive.<\/p>\n
Barry has also been a boxing fan at heart well before his career kicked off by watching Muhammad Ali fights live on network television.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have emotional connections to the fighters, and the thing with boxing is that you have to tell fighter stories in a fragmented space,\u201d he said. \u201cHardcore fans will come, but you have to give the casual fans a reason to care.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that’s a little bit of our skill set, where we reach across that intersection of sports and culture. We understand the obligation to the hardcore fan, but we really embrace that obligation to the casual fan. We have enough lead time to build assets, resources, and tell the stories of these world-class boxers by leveraging our properties.\u201d<\/p>\n
While TNT is all-in on the presentation and production, DAZN<\/a> has to depend on its promotional partners to whet TNT\u2019s appetite for pugilism with well-built fight cards featuring key attractions.<\/p>\n \u201cIn all honesty, we have the ability to decline a fight,\u201d Barry said. \u201cIf we feel that it’s not a big enough matchup or a big enough draw, then we can go back and say, ‘Let’s keep working on this until we figure out something that we think works for both of us.’ It’s highly collaborative.\u201d<\/p>\n Their union first kicked off in soccer during last year\u2019s FIFA Club World Cup. The collaboration was deemed a success and set the foundation for \u201cThe Fight.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou’re only as good as the people around you. So to partner with someone in the space like DAZN, this is their primary content platform distribution and primary property; it was a smart opportunity for us. They already have a built-in audience,\u201d Barry said.<\/p>\n Subscribers to DAZN\u2019s Ultimate plan, which costs $49.99 monthly in the U.S., have access to pay-per-views for no additional charge. A standard monthly subscription sans PPV events costs $24.99. Getting additional eyeballs from TNT\u2019s audience to consider their subscription is a play DAZN hasn\u2019t had since making its U.S. debut in 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s great national exposure for DAZN on a different platform,\u201d Barry said. \u201cI mean, it’s really not rocket science. They’re going to reach a much different audience now, and the sport will reach a different audience than they’re used to.<\/p>\n \u201cDAZN is as interested as we are and as motivated as we are to create a monthly franchise that stretches across a diverse platform set that creates enough buzz and need for boxing fans to experience the events.<\/p>\n \u201cI also think it’s a big marketing play for DAZN, because we’re co-branded and it just creates a lot more visibility and saturation for them in the sports media space. The benefits for them are pretty clear. They understand the value that we bring, and that’s really important. We understand the value that they bring. Hopefully we’ll be highly complementary. So far, all signs point to a really positive opportunity for both of us.\u201d<\/p>\n Barry is also confident that TNT can host pay-per-view-quality contests on cable television.<\/p>\n \u201cYou’ll see within the first 12 months a caliber of a fight on TNT like we saw last week when Jaron Ennis fought Xander Zayas<\/a>,\u201d Barry said. \u201cIn all honesty, I assumed that certain names and certain fights would automatically fall into that pay-per-view umbrella, but that hasn’t been the case. Everything is on the table. It’s a lot more collaborative and fluid than I expected it to be.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if we can make sense of it, then we’re going to put the absolute best fight that we have accessible to us within this franchise. We’ve had a lot of really productive conversations around the opportunities and creating value for the fans.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are honest conversations about what’s available and what should be pay-per-view. Not all brand name fighters have to be on pay-per-view, right? Those conversations are fluid; scheduling the fights is still fluid; we also understand that there are contractual obligations for the fighters themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n The second episode of “The Fight” is set for August 1, when Lamont Roach and William Zepeda<\/a> square off for the vacant WBC lightweight title at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. In the co-main event, IBF lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla takes on Robson Conceicao<\/a>. A third show slated for September 4 is set to be promoted by Matchroom Boxing.<\/p>\n The expectation from the August 1 show is that the winners will face each other in a lightweight title unification, which falls directly in line with the narrative-driven stories TNT is trying to tell.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it’s the biggest fight or not is secondary to the point of creating momentum around the franchise and telling the stories,\u201d Barry said. \u201cBoxing is just one of those sports people watch when there is a connection, especially with tentpole fights where a storyline drives interest.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re not going to be one-and-done-a-month in this space with only fight nights. Just like our other content properties, we build around the content strategy. So the more that we can integrate boxing into our platforms and create meaningful content around the sport, the more engaged everyone will be.\u201d<\/p>\n The July 4 card is promoted by Top Rank and is appropriately filled with several undefeated American upstarts. In addition to the all-Ohio matchup between Mason and Bell, the show includes New York\u2019s Bruce Carrington defending his WBC featherweight title against Mexico\u2019s Rene Palacios in the co-main event, while Tiger Johnson, a 2020 US Olympian, and Maryland\u2019s Deric “Scooter” Davis star in separate showcases.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Barry said the success of the partnership with DAZN will be measured in a multitude of ways on their side outside of simple numbers from Nielsen. TNT is currently the 24th most popular channel on TV, watched by a total number of 276,000 people throughout the day, according to US TVBD.<\/p>\n The only other network working in parallel to TNT with boxing programming is ESPN, which struck a multi-year deal with Jake Paul\u2019s Most Valuable Promotions in March to primarily showcase women\u2019s boxing after it passed on renewing its deal with Top Rank last summer following an eight-year run.<\/p>\n On the streaming side, Premier Boxing Champions is primarily tied to Prime Video since 2024 after previously brokering deals with ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and Showtime. Zuffa Boxing, meanwhile, kicked off in January on Paramount+.<\/p>\n DAZN and TNT\u2019s partnership success will ultimately depend on the quality of fights Top Rank, Golden Boy, Matchroom, and others can supply, the eyeballs they can attract on cable, the new subscribers who\u2019ll join the streaming service, and the new fans they can nurture in the U.S. for boxing to continue to grow.<\/p>\n \u201cIn any sport, if the matchup doesn’t deliver competitively, it’s hard to quantify success,\u201d Barry said. \u201cWe’re playing to win here and trying to figure out how we can be additive in the space.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are lots of sports we work on; we have a certain DNA. For some sports, the DNA works perfectly. The way we present and produce live sports really works for boxing. There’s a really high ceiling to be found, but we\u2019re passionate and excited to get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n Manouk Akopyan is The Ring\u2019s lead writer. Follow him on X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>: @ManoukAkopyan.