Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom, Jake Paul’s MVP enter ‘alliance’: What does this mean for women’s boxing?

Matchroom Boxing and Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) today announced they have entered a “strategic alliance”, bringing together the two promotional entities in a long-term collaboration.

In a press release, the promoters said the alliance would be “focused on accelerating the continued global growth of women’s boxing through world championship opportunities, premium live events, and long-term athlete development.”

It will bring together the large stable of female fighters put together by MVP since it launched in 2021 (rebranded as MVPW earlier this year) with those signed to Matchroom, under one umbrella, with the intention of creating more opportunities for female fighters inside and outside of the ring.

MVP co-founders Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian, said: “Since launching MVPW, our goal has been to build the biggest platform in the world for women’s boxing and create transformative opportunities for female fighters at every stage of their careers. Partnering with Matchroom Boxing is another major step toward that vision.

Paul co-founded MVP in 2021 (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)

“This is about investing in the future of the sport and creating the premier destination for the world’s best female fighters.”

Matchroom Sport Chairman Eddie Hearn, said: “This is a partnership not many would have seen coming. But it is one that makes perfect sense. For our female fighters to chase legacy and to fight the best, this new alliance is integral and we are fully committed to working with MVPW to continue to grow women’s boxing.”

WBC Super Bantamweight world champion, Skye Nicolson (16-1, 3 KOs) will become the first fighter to compete under the newly announced strategic alliance from MVP and Matchroom when she fights Miyo Yoshida (19-5, 1KO) on MVP’s UK vs USA card in Birmingham on August 29.

What does this mean for women’s boxing?

Matchroom, led by Hearn, was one of the first promoters to give professional women’s boxing a platform, led by the signing of Katie Taylor in 2016. But while Matchroom was putting women’s fights on big arena and stadium cards, few other promoters were following suit (at least not in the same volume).

That changed when MVP launched, with seven-division world champion Amanda Serrano as its first signing, increasing her earnings from $4,000 for a world title fight to making seven figure sums. Since then, it has added some of the biggest names in women’s boxing to its stable, attracting them from other promoters including Top Rank, Boxxer and Matchroom.

Matchroom still has a handful of accomplished female fighters (including Taylor, whose farewell fight will take place in September), but it remains to be seen whether this new alliance means they will all be fighting on MVP cards as opposed to Matchroom events (as Nicolson is doing next month).

It sounds like a positive step for women’s boxing in some ways: MVPW has broadcast partners in the UK (Sky Sports) and US (ESPN), that allows its cards to reach a good number of people. It has also shown it is willing to promote and pay fighters properly. But there is perhaps a question to be asked about whether it’s wholly positive for all the best female fighters to be part of one promotional team.