Confirmation of Jai Opetaia-Brandon Glanton on March 8 on Paramount+ represented just the latest development in the rapidly evolving landscape of Australian boxing and its growing reach.
It was largely the success of Opetaia, the IBF cruiserweight champion and Australia’s finest fighter, that persuaded the influential Australian broadcaster Stan to invest in Tasman Fighters for 12 months from his successful title defence against Huseyin Cinkara in December 2025. It was also recognition of his potential as the world’s leading cruiserweight that appealed to Zuffa Boxing when they made him the highest-profile recruit of TKO’s venture into professional boxing.
Opetaia-Glanton will be shown in his home country and around the world on Paramount+, however – not on Stan, which oversaw Opetaia-Cinkara on Stan Sport Pay-Per-View. This means that in the space of under three months the similarly influential Fox Sports has gone from having zero competitors in the boxing marketplace to two.
Fox Sports, its pay-per-view arm Main Event, and No Limit – the promoter with which it has long worked – has consistently remained the Australian broadcaster most invested in boxing and, to that end, is expected to announce a broadcast agreement with Matchroom to the tune of four fight dates and up to four pay-per-views a year. Foxtel, the parent company of Fox Sports and Main Event, was, for $A3.4bn, bought out in April 2025 by none other than DAZN. Fox Sports, Main Event and No Limit are largely responsible for the reality that Tim Tszyu is Australia’s highest-profile fighter and that his younger brother Nikita is already fighting on pay-per-view. The coming IBF welterweight title fight between the champion Lewis Crocker and the Australian Liam Paro will also be broadcast on Main Event, and is expected to be supported by the latest fight in the rebuild of the career of Tim Tszyu, whose proposed summer junior-middleweight contest with Errol Spence is likely to be the biggest involving an Australian in 2026. That the rematch between Justis Huni, Australia’s leading heavyweight, and Kiki Toa Leutele is likely to be promoted by Tasman and therefore broadcast by Stan before then is a further reflection of the growing competition that exists.
“Competition is great,” Matt Rose of No Limit told BoxingScene. “Anytime there’s another broadcaster, I actually think it actually elevates boxing in the country. Stan being involved – we don’t see that as a bad thing. Stan being involved – it means more people talk about boxing. It means more people know who fighters are, and it makes it a whole lot easier to make noise when it comes to big fights.”
There is little question that it is healthy for a dysfunctional sport so often responsible for inflicting the greatest damage to its own prospects and reputation to feature on numerous broadcasters and therefore to the widest potential audience. How healthy it is that of the three in Australia only Paramount+ doesn’t appear to have consistent pay-per-view ambitions is considerably more in doubt.
Opetaia-Cinkara was followed as a pay-per-view contest by Tim Tszyu-Anthony Velazquez and then Nikita Tszyu-Michael Zerafa in the space of six weeks. Crocker-Paro, Huni-Leutele and the next fight in the promising career of Nikita Tszyu could yet follow similarly; there is also the expectation that, in April, the latest stage of Matchroom’s ambitions in Australia in a promotion on which the Australian junior featherweight Skye Nicolson will feature prominently will start.
“To get the money that these guys deserve – we’re still a third-tier sport; we’re not like rugby league in this country, and things like that – I can see guys like Jai paving the way but we’re a long way from being a top-tier sport,” explained Tasman’s Mick Francis. “I just hope it’s a long relationship [with Stan] and we can develop the sport in this part of the world. At the moment it’s just over the next 12 months, and then obviously we’ll see how the relationship develops after that.
“I don’t want to be disrespectful to any particular TV network or streaming partner, but we’ve been doing a lot of stuff with other companies, and it just hasn’t really worked. I’m struggling to get any love – I’ll be completely honest. We’re doing some pretty hard work down here – I’m working my arse off – and, yeah, we sell tickets and whatever we’re doing, but all of this comes out of my bank account. It’s not like I’ve got a multimillionaire father or things like that – this is real money coming out of my pocket. It’s only now that Stan’s actually got behind me financially. This is the very first time that Tasman Fighters has signed a deal where we’re actually getting money – not just a minimum guarantee, but money for the event, and they’re paying for the broadcast, covering the broadcast, [investing] six figures into the marketing, which I’ve never had before. They’re investing in Tasman Fighters and our fighters and trying to actually get behind the sport in Australia and develop the sport in Australia. I don’t want to be disrespectful, because I’m appreciative of what I’ve achieved and the opportunities that I’ve been given on different platforms, but you can’t be a serious boxing promoter unless your broadcaster is backing you financially and they’re all in.
“It’s not just backing you, it’s actually partnership – Tasman Fighters has finally got a partnership and I’m looking forward to the future. There’s massive things coming [this year], because I can see the unification fights for Jai; Justis Huni is gonna be back and he’s learned a lot from his last fight [the dramatic defeat by Fabio Wardley] as well; he’s another massive name in this part of the world. I’ve worked with Justis since he was 16, 17, so it’s not just getting these guys and signing ‘em off and seeing what you can do with them. It’s a legitimate family – we’re all in with our fighters and we finally have an opportunity to have someone to get behind us and actually believe in us as well, so it’s exciting.”
The “streaming partner” to which Francis was referring is DAZN, who, on the occasion of co-promotions between Tasman and Matchroom had broadcast the fights of Opetaia. Opetaia-David Nyika in January 2025 had been available to watch on DAZN but without those recognised as DAZN’s leading pundits and commentators – it is little secret that there are promoters whose promotions appear on DAZN without any funding from DAZN at all – and there also remain concerns about the extent to which the platform DAZN offered can succeed in Australia, where the WiFi speeds can be slower than elsewhere.
It was in the weeks before Opetaia-Cinkara that Stan’s involvement was announced, and mid-fight week when it was confirmed that the TKO-owned UFC Fight Pass would broadcast the fight overseas. Opetaia was, by then, no longer being co-promoted by Matchroom, who when first working with Tasman also had a stake in the Irish light heavyweight Conor Wallace, and the Australian heavyweights Teremoana Jnr and Huni. BoxingScene understands that Wallace, also, is no longer being co-promoted by Matchroom, but that Huni and Teremoana Jnr, at least in the short term, are.
“DAZN’s always been there as the global feed – it has got some good reach,” said Francis. “It is known as ‘The Home of Boxing’. But UFC Fight Pass are very aggressive at the moment; they’re gonna change the game as well. Everyone knows UFC Fight Pass. It’s probably a bit left-field but they’ve committed to us financially. The relationship is Stan Sports behind us domestically, taking care of the broadcast and financially giving us support to help put on these amazing events – they’ve only got the domestic feed – and the UFC Fight Pass have got a lot of clout, a lot of marketing, behind them as well. Our fighters get the opportunity to broadcast globally; UFC Fight Pass are investing in our brand as well.
“I know there’s a lot of good fighters in these parts of the world; New Zealand’s exactly the same. I talk about opportunities and pathways and things – this is the struggle we have in his country. There’s no pathways; without pathways there’s no opportunities. Boxing’s probably a third-tier sport, not a first-tier sport; it doesn’t have much financial backing from the mainstream media. We’re finally getting some recognition. It’s a legitimate sport; it’s a sport that has to work their arses off, and they deserve to put on these amazing events and to make money.”
When he spoke to BoxingScene on the eve of Opetaia-Nyika, Eddie Hearn said: “We want to do at least four shows here a year, and I think it’s a great market. I really do. They understand their boxing. See the turnout – I think there’s a lot of potential.”
Hearn had previously attempted to secure government funding to stage Paro’s IBF junior-welterweight title defence against Richardson Hitchins. His inability to do so then led to that fight instead happening in Puerto Rico, where Paro lost. The promoter had also hoped to match Paro with George Kambosos Jnr – whose promotional organisation Ferocious Promotions will launch later in 2026 – but with Paro since committing to No Limit it is Nicolson, potentially Jake Wyllie and others on which he will lean.
Opetaia agreeing terms with Zuffa represents a risk for both he and Tasman, but Francis was by then already aware of the difficulty involved in securing the unification contests the cruiserweight desperately seeks. It had been the separation of Huni and Opetaia from their former promoter D & L Events that had ended D & L’s attempts to compete with No Limit in 2023.
“We’re an underdog,” Francis said. “Jai’s always been an underdog. A lot of our guys – Conor Wallace is the underdog. He’s got there because of hard work. If you work hard you can achieve anything in this sport, but I always support an underdog. I’m an underdog myself – I come from an underdog’s background. Eddie Hearn’s coming to town; he’s going to be a competitor as well. You’ve got No Limit – they’ve got the contract with Fox. DAZN and Fox are obviously one now. [There’s] two bullies now. I’m happy. Let’s bring it on.
“I’ve had conversations with Noel [Mikaelian, the WBC champion] and his management. They want this fight against Jai. They’ll take the fight straight away – and they’re serious about the fight. Turki Alalshikh has said he’ll make that fight for Jai next, and he’s promised Jai – he’s looked Jai in the eye and he’s told Jai.
“It’s a team effort. I can see Jai fighting Noel next, and I can see [Gilberto “Zurdo”] Ramirez getting beat by [David] Benavidez, and that [undisputed title] fight getting made, probably early 2027 – something along those lines.”
In addition to the talented Huni’s return from his only defeat, Tasman and Stan – capable of benefitting from cross-promotion via the free-to-air Channel Nine, not unlike Fox Sports with Australia’s more popular sports – expect to deliver Jason Moloney’s ordered IBF junior-bantamweight title fight against the champion Willibaldo Garcia. The Australian had previously often fought out of the US, largely with Top Rank.
“It’s where we are in [Australian] boxing at the moment,” said Rose.
“We’ve got really good talent coming through, and good talent on top, and I really think boxing’s in a great place in Australia.”
