The Most Valuable Boxing and Combat Sports Promotion, founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bedarian, launches a platform dedicated to women’s boxing, Hollywood Reporter I’ve learned.
The new promotion, called MVPW, has already secured a multi-year rights deal with ESPN, as the sports media giant expands its slate of women’s sports coverage. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
MVP has been pursuing more women’s bouts in recent years. Last year, the company hosted a dedicated women’s card at MSG, in what was described as a first for the arena. The event, which was broadcast on Netflix, garnered six million viewers, making it the most-watched women’s sporting event of the year to that point.
Earlier this year, MVP announced a big move into mixed martial arts with the Ronda Rousey-Gina Carano fight, which will take place in Los Angeles in May. This event will be broadcast on Netflix.
Meanwhile, ESPN is increasing its coverage of women’s sports, including a significantly expanded WNBA deal, which will complement its exclusive coverage of women’s March Madness and the NWSL. The Disney-owned sports media brand will launch “Women’s Sports Sundays” this summer, featuring live coverage of women’s sports, sponsored by the WNBA and NWSL.
The deal with MVPW begins next month, when it will broadcast its first event, MVPW-01 on April 5 from London, and televise MVPW-01 from Madison Square Garden in New York (the company is also announcing a deal with MSG to host events there for the next three years). The event will feature Alicia “The Bomb” Baumgardner taking on competitor Bo Mi Re Shin. MVPW-03 will take place on May 30 in El Paso, Texas, and will feature a rematch between MVP World Cruiserweight Champion Stephanie Hahn vs. Holly Holm.
“From the beginning, MVP has strategically focused on creating an inclusive brand that is the global home of women’s boxing, with the best fighters in the world, that engages existing boxing fans and attracts untapped demographics of fans who embrace women’s sports,” Bedarian and Paul said in a statement. “Today, we proudly enter a new era.” “Over the past five years, we have invested heavily in female athletes, delivering historic and record-breaking events, and proving that these athletes belong on the biggest stages in the sport. Partnering with ESPN, a global leader in sports, to launch MVPW across their platforms is a historic milestone, and aligning with the most iconic venue in the world, Madison Square Garden, while introducing the brand in the US, reinforces the scale and ambition behind what we are building.
“MVPW brings together some of the most accomplished and dynamic athletes in boxing, competing on a stage that reflects the scale of their talent,” adds Rosalyn Durant, executive vice president of programming and acquisitions at ESPN. “We are proud to bring these championship bouts to ESPN and the ESPN App and further raise the profile of women’s boxing for fans across the country.”
Combat sports, including boxing and mixed martial arts, are on the rise in the United States, thanks in large part to Paul and Bedaryan’s MVP award, which has been strategic in organizing attention-grabbing rights alongside elite bouts. Paul himself has presided over a number of those fights, defeating Mike Tyson in 2024, and falling to Anthony Joshua last December.
The deal with MVPW also brings ESPN back into the world of boxing after its deal with Top Rank expired last year.
