Top Rank

This article is about the boxing promotion company Top Rank, Inc. For other uses, see Top Rank (disambiguation).

Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Top Rank, Inc.

Logo used since 2012.
Company type	Privately held company
Industry	Boxing promotion
Predecessor	Main Bout
Founded	1973; 52 years ago (1973)
Founder	Jabir Herbert Muhammad Bob Arum
Headquarters	Las Vegas, Nevada , United States
Key people	Bob Arum (CEO)
Website	www.toprank.com

Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including Muhammad Ali, Alexis Argüello, Terence Crawford, Oscar De La Hoya, Roberto Durán, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Marvin Hagler, Juan Manuel Márquez, Manny Pacquiao, Sugar Ray Leonard, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Érik Morales, Thomas Hearns, Paulie Ayala, Iran Barkley, Michael Carbajal, Larry Holmes, Ray Mancini, Carlos Monzón, Terry Norris, Gabriel Ruelas, Rafael Ruelas, James Toney, Kubrat Pulev, Jared Anderson, Nico Ali Walsh, Guido Vianello and Tyson Fury.

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 George Foreman's comeback to regain the world championship, culminating in the knockout of then IBF/WBA champion Michael Moorer on November 5, 1994.

History

Main Bout

The precursor to Top Rank was Main Bout, a company founded by Muhammad Ali 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 leader Elijah Muhammad).^[1] 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 closed-circuit television broadcasts in the late 1960s. The company's stockholders included several other fellow Nation of Islam members.^[2]

Top Rank Boxing on ESPN

In the early 1980s, Top Rank Boxing and then-fledgling ESPN 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, when middleweight Frank Fletcher decisioned Ben Serrano.^[3] 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.^[4]

In July 2017, Top Rank began to soft launch a new broadcasting agreement with ESPN, beginning with Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn,^[5][6] followed by two more cards in August.^[7] 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+), and an option to carry events on pay-per-view.^[8][9] On August 2, 2018, ESPN extended the agreement through 2025.^[10]

Announcers

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

Blow-by-blow

• Sal Marchiano (1980–1983)^[11]
• Sam Rosen (1983–1986)^[12]
• Al Bernstein (1986–1996)
• Don Chevrier (1987–1988)^[13]
• Tom Kelly (1988–1989)
• Barry Tompkins (1989–1994, 2010–2011)^[14]
• Bob Papa (1996–2003)^[15]
• Joe Tessitore (2003–present)
• Bob Sheridan (2010–2016)
• Brian Kenny (2012, 2016)

Color Commentator

• Al Bernstein (1980–1986, 1987–1998)^[12]
• Tommy Hearns (1980)^[12]
• Randy Gordon (1980–1982)^[16]
• Donald Curry (1985)^[17]
• Dave Bontempo (1986–1998)
• Teddy Atlas (1998–2017)^[18]
• Larry Merchant (2013–2014)
• Timothy Bradley (2016–present)
• Andre Ward (2017–2023)
• Mark Kriegel (2017–present)

Current boxers

Boxer	Nationality	Weight	Record	Title
Efe Ajagba	Nigerian	Heavyweight	20-1 (14 KO)
Jared Anderson (boxer)	American	Heavyweight	17-1 (15 KO)
Sonny Conto	American	Heavyweight	13-0 (10 KO)
Ali Feliz	American	Heavyweight	5-0 (4 KO)
Tyson Fury	British	Heavyweight	34-1-1 (24 KO)	Former WBC World Champion
Bakhodir Jalolov	Uzbekistani	Heavyweight	14-0 (14 KO)
Damian Knyba	Polish	Heavyweight	15-0 (9 KO)
Arslanbek Makhmudov	Canadian	Heavyweight	19-1 (18 KO)
Brandon Moore	American	Heavyweight	14-1 (8 KO)
Richard Torrez Jr.	American	Heavyweight	10-0 (10 KO)
Guido Vianello	Italian	Heavyweight	12-2-1 (10 KO)
Artur Beterbiev	Canadian	Light heavyweight	20-0 (20 KO)	Former WBC, WBO, IBF World Champion
Nico Ali Walsh	American	Middleweight	11-1-1 (5 KO)
Janibek Alimkhanuly	Kazakhstani	Middleweight	15-0 (10 KO)	WBO, IBF World Champion
Troy Isley	American	Middleweight	13-0 (5 KO)
Javier Martinez	American	Middleweight	10-1-1 (3 KO)
Jahi Tucker	American	Middleweight	11-1-1 (5 KO)
Christian Mbilli	Canadian	Super middleweight	27-0 (23 KO)
Xander Zayas	Puerto Rican	Junior middleweight	19-0 (12 KO)
Vito Mielnicki Jr.	American	Junior middleweight	20-1-1 (13 KO)
Art Barrera Jr.	American	Welterweight	6-0 (4 KO)
Mikaela Mayer	American	Welterweight	19-2 (5 KO)	Former IBF, WBO, Lineal World Champion
Brian Norman Jr.	American	Welterweight	26-0 (20 KO)	WBO World Champion
Giovani Santillan	American	Welterweight	32-1 (17 KO)
Kelvin Davis	American	Junior welterweight	13-0 (7 KO)
Lindolfo Delgado	Mexican	Junior welterweight	20-0 (15 KO)
Tiger Johnson	American	Junior welterweight	13-0 (6 KO)
Teofimo Lopez	American	Junior welterweight	21-1 (13 KO)	WBO World Champion
Sandor Martin	Spanish	Junior welterweight	42-3 (15 KO)
Hugo Micallef	Monégasque	Junior welterweight	10-0 (2 KO)
Jose Pedraza	Puerto Rican	Junior welterweight	29-6 (14 KO)	Former IBF World Champion
Josh Taylor	Scottish	Junior welterweight	19-2 (13 KO)	Former WBC, IBF, WBA, WBO, Lineal World Champion
Rohan Polanco	Dominican	Junior welterweight	13-0 (8 KO)
Charlie Sheehy	American	Junior welterweight	10-0 (4 KO)
Emiliano Fernando Vargas	American	Junior welterweight	11-0 (9 KO)
Elvis Rodriguez	Dominican	Junior welterweight	16-1-1 (13 KO)
Keyshawn Davis	American	Lightweight	11-0 (7 KO)
Alan Garcia	American	Lightweight	14-0 (12 KO)
Vasiliy Lomachenko	Ukrainian	Lightweight	18-3 (12 KO)	IBF World Champion
Abdullah Mason	American	Lightweight	14-0 (12 KO)
Raymond Muratalla	American	Lightweight	21-0 (16 KO)
Robson Conceição	Brazilian	Junior lightweight	19-2-1 (9 KO)	WBC World Champion
Andres Cortes	American	Junior lightweight	22-0 (12 KO)
O'Shaquie Foster	American	Junior lightweight	22-3 (12 KO)	Former WBC World Champion
Emanuel Navarrete	Mexican	Junior lightweight	38-2-1 (31 KO)	WBO World Champion
Abraham Nova	Puerto Rican	Junior lightweight	23-3 (16 KO)
Oscar Valdez	Mexican	Junior lightweight	32-2 (24 KO)	WBO Interim World Champion
Demler Zamora	American	Junior lightweight	13-0 (9 KO)
Bruce Carrington	American	Featherweight	12-0 (8 KO)
Rafael Espinoza	Mexican	Featherweight	25-0 (21 KO)	WBO World Champion
Albert Gonzalez	American	Featherweight	10-0 (6 KO)
Arnold Khegai	Ukrainian	Featherweight	22-1-1 (14 KO)
Isaac Dogboe	Ghanaian	Featherweight	24-4 (15 KO)	Former WBO World Champion
Luis Alberto Lopez	Mexican	Featherweight	30-3 (17 KO)	Former IBF World Champion
Robeisy Ramirez	Cuban	Featherweight	14-2 (9 KO)	Former WBO World Champion
Julius Ballo	American	Featherweight	0-0
Naoya Inoue	Japanese	Junior featherweight	29-0 (26 KO)	WBO, WBC, IBF, WBA, Lineal World Champion
Jason Moloney	Australian	Junior featherweight	27-3 (19 KO)	Former WBO Champion
Andrew Moloney	Australian	Junior bantamweight	26-4 (16 KO)
Steven Navarro	American	Junior bantamweight	2-0 (1 KO)
Seniesa Estrada	American	Minimumweight	26-0 (9 KO)	WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, Lineal World Champion
Floyd Diaz	American	Bantamweight	12-0 (3 KO)

Notable fighters

• Muhammad Ali
• Mikey Garcia
• Miguel Cotto
• Floyd Mayweather
• Oscar De La Hoya
• Mike Alvarado
• Jorge Arce
• Urbano Antillon
• José Benavidez
• Timothy Bradley
• Iván Calderón
• José Luis Castillo
• Martín Castillo
• Julio César Chávez Jr.
• Omar Chávez
• Joshua Clottey
• 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
• Jesus Soto Karass
• Vasiliy Lomachenko
• Juan Manuel Lopez
• Francisco Lorenzo
• Steven Luevano
• Antonio Margarito
• Raul Martinez
• Vanes Martirosyan
• Egor Mekhontsev
• Fernando Montiel
• Tommy Morrison
• Ryota Murata
• Manny Pacquiao
• 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
• 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 in September 1974.^[19][20] The event, at Twin Falls, Idaho, was shown live on paid closed circuit television in hundreds of theaters, for about ten dollars each.^[21][22][23] The steam-powered Skycycle X-2 had a premature deployment of its parachute and Knievel survived.^[22]