Top Rank, Inc. is a

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

, Alexis Argüello, Terence Crawford,

Oscar De La Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born February 4, 1973) is an American Promoter (entertainment), boxing promoter and former professional boxing, professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 list of boxing sextuple ch ...

, Roberto Durán,

Joe Frazier Joseph William Frazier (January 12, 1944November 7, 2011) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1965 to 1981. Nicknamed "Smokin' Joe", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He was known for ...

George Foreman George Edward Foreman (January 10, 1949 – March 21, 2025) was an American professional boxer, businessman, minister, and author. In boxing, he competed between 1967 and 1997, and was nicknamed "Big George". He was a two-time world heavyweig ...

Marvin Hagler Marvelous Marvin Hagler (born Marvin Nathaniel Hagler; May 23, 1954 – March 13, 2021) was an American professional boxer. He competed in boxing from 1973 to 1987 and reigned as the undisputed champion of the middleweight division from 1980 t ...

, Juan Manuel Márquez,

Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. ( ; ; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician, businessman, and professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He previously serv ...

Sugar Ray Leonard Ray Charles Leonard (born May 17, 1956), best known as Sugar Ray Leonard, is an American former professional boxer. Often regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, he competed professionally between 1977 and 1997, winning quintuple c ...

Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (né Sinclair; born February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He list of undefeated boxing world champions, retired with an undefeated record a ...

, Érik Morales,

Thomas Hearns Thomas Hearns (born October 18, 1958) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Detroit, Motor City Cobra", and more famously "the Hitman", Hearns's tall, slender build and long arms and shoulders al ...

, Paulie Ayala,

Iran Barkley Iran Barkley (; born May 6, 1960) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1999. He held triple champion, world championships in three weight classes, including the World Boxing Council, WBC middleweight title from 1988 ...

, Michael Carbajal, Larry Holmes,

Ray Mancini Ray Mancini (born Raymond Michael Mancino; March 4, 1961), better known as "Boom Boom" Mancini, is an American former professional boxer who competed professionally from 1979 to 1992 and who has since worked as an actor and sports commentato ...

, Carlos Monzón, Terry Norris, Gabriel Ruelas, Rafael Ruelas, James Toney, Kubrat Pulev, Jared Anderson,

Nico Ali Walsh Nico Ali Walsh (born July 11, 2000) is an American professional boxer. The grandson of Muhammad Ali, Walsh came into the ring for his pro debut in August 2021 wearing his grandfather's personal white Everlast shorts, which were passed down to hi ...

, Guido Vianello and

Tyson Fury Tyson Luke Fury (born 12 August 1988) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2024. He held multiple world heavyweight championships, including unified titles from 2015 to 2016, the '' Ring'' magazine title twice bet ...

. The company has promoted such superfights as Hagler vs Leonard, Chávez vs De La Hoya, Holyfield vs Foreman, Foreman vs Moorer, Leonard vs Hearns, Hagler vs Hearns, Ali vs Frazier II and both Ali vs Spinks fights. The company also promoted

's comeback to regain the world championship, culminating in the knockout of then IBF/ WBA champion

Michael Moorer Michael Lee Moorer (born November 12, 1967) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2008. He won a world championship on four occasions in two weight classes, having held the WBO light heavyweight title from 1988 t ...

on November 5, 1994.

History

Main Bout

The precursor to Top Rank was Main Bout, a company founded by

in 1966 to promote his fights. Along with Muhammad Ali, other early equity owners of the company included Jabir Herbert Muhammad, Bob Arum, and John Ali (chief aide to

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...

leader Elijah Muhammad). The company was founded after the Muhammad Ali vs. Floyd Patterson fight, and the company mainly handled Ali's boxing promotions and

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

closed-circuit television Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

broadcasts in the late 1960s. The company's stockholders included several other fellow Nation of Islam members.

''Top Rank Boxing on ESPN''

In the early 1980s, Top Rank Boxing and then-fledgling

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

formed a partnership to bring a weekly boxing to the cable network which culminated with the first regularly televised boxing series since 1964. The first event was held on April 10, 1980, in

Atlantic City Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...

, when middleweight Frank Fletcher decisioned Ben Serrano. The original ''Top Rank Boxing on ESPN'' was the longest-running cable series and weekly boxing series in history, after celebrating its 16th consecutive year in 1996. ESPN broke away from the contract afterward, replacing it with '' Friday Night Fights''—a new series that would feature fights from other promotions and aired on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

. In July 2017, Top Rank began to soft launch a new broadcasting agreement with ESPN, beginning with

Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn, billed as the ''Battle of Brisbane'', was a professional boxing match for the World Boxing Organization, WBO and Lineal championship, ''Lineal'' welterweight championship. The event took place on 2 July 2017 at Lang ...

, followed by two more cards in August. That month, ESPN officially announced a multi-year agreement, calling for events airing across ESPN linear and digital properties (including its recently launched subscription service

ESPN+ ESPN+ is an American over-the-top subscription video streaming service available in the United States, owned by ESPN Inc., which is a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communicati ...

), and an option to carry events on pay-per-view. On August 2, 2018, ESPN extended the agreement through 2025.

Announcers

* Kenneth Anderson (a.k.a. Mr. Kennedy / Mr. Anderson)

=Blow-by-blow

= * Sal Marchiano (1980–1983) * Sam Rosen (1983–1986) * Al Bernstein (1986–1996) * Don Chevrier (1987–1988) *Tom Kelly (1988–1989) * Barry Tompkins (1989–1994, 2010–2011) * Bob Papa (1996–2003) * Joe Tessitore (2003–present) * Bob Sheridan (2010–2016) * Brian Kenny (2012, 2016)

=Color Commentator

= * Al Bernstein (1980–1986, 1987–1998) * Tommy Hearns (1980) * Randy Gordon (1980–1982) * Donald Curry (1985) *Dave Bontempo (1986–1998) * Teddy Atlas (1998–2017) * Larry Merchant (2013–2014) * Timothy Bradley (2016–present) *

Andre Ward Andre Michael Ward (born February 23, 1984) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2017. He retired with an undefeated record and held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including unified super ...

(2017–2023) * Mark Kriegel (2017–present)

Current boxers

Notable fighters

* Mikey Garcia *

Miguel Cotto Miguel Ángel Cotto Vázquez (born October 29, 1980) is a Puerto Rican former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the first Puerto Rican boxer to win quadruple champion, world titles in fo ...

* Floyd Mayweather *

* Mike Alvarado *

Jorge Arce Jorge Armando Arce Armenta (; born July 27, 1979), best known as Jorge Arce, is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2014. He is a multiple-time world champion, and the second boxer from Mexico to win world titles in ...

* Urbano Antillon * José Benavidez * Timothy Bradley * Iván Calderón * José Luis Castillo * Martín Castillo * Julio César Chávez Jr. * Omar Chávez *

Joshua Clottey Joshua Clottey (born October 6, 1977) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2019, and held the IBF welterweight title from 2008 to 2009. As an amateur, he competed at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. At the peak of his car ...

* Bernabe Concepcion * Terence Crawford * Kid Diamond * David Díaz * Nonito Donaire * Esquiva Falcão * Yuri Foreman * Yuriorkis Gamboa * Miguel Angel Garcia * Kendall Holt * Demetrius Hopkins * Miguel Angel Huerta *

Nobuhiro Ishida is a Japanese former professional boxer. He is a former World Boxing Association, WBA Interim championship, interim super welterweight champion who is best known for knocking out James Kirkland (boxer), James Kirkland in a middleweight bout at t ...

* Jesus Soto Karass *

Vasiliy Lomachenko Vasiliy Anatolyevich Lomachenko (also spelled Vasyl Anatoliyovych Lomachenko; , ; born 17 February 1988) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed between 2013 and 2024. He has held multiple world championships in three weight clas ...

* Juan Manuel Lopez * Francisco Lorenzo * Steven Luevano * Antonio Margarito * Raul Martinez * Vanes Martirosyan * Egor Mekhontsev * Fernando Montiel *

Tommy Morrison Tommy Morrison (January 2, 1969 – September 1, 2013) was an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist who competed from 1988 to 2009. Best known for his left hook (boxing), hook and formidable punching power, Morrison won the World ...

* Ryota Murata *

* Arnold Barboza Jr. * Kelly Pavlik * Anthony Peterson * Lamont Peterson * Hasim Rahman * Brandon Rios * Marco Antonio Rubio * Andy Ruiz * Mario Santiago * Giovanni Segura * Jorge Solís *

Ulises Solís José Ulises Solís Pérez (born 28 August 1981) is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2013. He held the IBF junior flyweight title twice in his career from 2006 to 2009 and from 2011 to 2012. He is the brother of fo ...

* Glen Tapia * Anthony Thompson * Ricardo Torres * Brian Viloria * José Luis Zertuche * Shiming Zou

Other events

Early in its history, Top Rank promoted the Snake River Canyon jump of daredevil

Evel Knievel Robert Craig Knievel (October 17, 1938November 30, 2007), known professionally as Evel Knievel (), was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Throughout his career, he attempted List of Evel Knievel career jumps, more than 75 ramp-to-ra ...

in September 1974. The event, at

Twin Falls, Idaho Twin Falls is the county seat of and the largest city in Twin Falls County, Idaho, United States. The city had a population of 51,807 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census.

, was shown live on paid closed circuit television in hundreds of theaters, for about ten dollars each. The steam-powered

Skycycle X-2 The Skycycle X-2 was a steam rocket, steam-powered rocket owned by Evel Knievel and flown during his Snake River Canyon (Idaho), Snake River Canyon jump in Idaho in 1974. An earlier prototype was designed, named the Skycycle X-1, by Douglas Malew ...

had a premature deployment of its parachute and Knievel survived.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Professional boxing promotion companies ESPN original programming Boxing television series 1980 American television series debuts 1996 American television series endings 2017 American television series debuts 1980s American sports television series 1990s American sports television series 2000s American sports television series 2020s American sports television series Companies based in Paradise, Nevada Entertainment companies established in 1973 American companies established in 1973 1973 establishments in Nevada