Saunders-Murray heads to ESPN+

Billy Joe Saunders (26-0, 12 KOs) will be defending his WBO middleweight world title on June 23 against Martin Murray (36-4-1, 17 KOs) at London’s O2 Arena, and the card has just been picked up to air on ESPN+ in the U.S.

Top Rank has acquired the U.S. rights to Frank Warren’s card as part of their deal with ESPN, in order to provide content for the new streaming service. This now makes it their second international card, following Amir Khan vs. Phil Lo Greco.

Top Rank’s Todd duBeof had this to say on the acquisition:

“Before the fight was postponed, we were going to pick this up for ESPN+,” duBoef said. “We think Saunders is in the top three in his division with (unified world champion Gennady) Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez. What Saunders did to Lemieux was pretty devastating. He played with him and now he’s going back home after that big over Lemieux. We think that it’s a terrific offering for ESPN+. Billy Joe Saunders is one of the elite fighters in boxing today, and we’re also looking forward to showing the fight with Dubois and Yarde.”

ESPN+ will stream Daniel Dubois (7-0, 7 KOs) vs. Tom Little (10-5, 3 KOs) in a heavyweight bout as well as Anthony Yarde (15-0, 14 KOs) vs. TBD in a light heavyweight bout —both scheduled 10 rounders. The undercard action will kick off at 2:30pm ET with the main event coverage to start at 5:00pm ET.