Top Rank Inc. has been gobbling up prospects over the past year even as HBO’s limited slate of dates grew thinner and thinner.

But, as always with Bob Arum, there was a vision all along.

The Las Vegas-based promotional outfit has been engaged in talks for months on a new deal that will see Top Rank’s best and brightest stars — boxers like Manny Pacquiao, Terence Crawford and Vasyl Lomachenko — featured on a new network, sources told RingTV.com. It’s unclear which platform will distribute the fights, but a major announcement is imminent, and could come as soon as this weekend.

The first fight on the new platform? Pacquiao’s welterweight title defense against Jeff Horn on July 2 in Australia (July 1 in the U.S.). Sources told RingTV.com that HBO offered an undisclosed license fee for the rights to televise the future Hall of Famer’s fight, but the network was turned down by longtime partner Top Rank. The second show is slated for July 8.

Arum has bristled at HBO’s lack of dates for years now. Little by little, the network’s decreased interest in boxing has limited Top Rank’s best fighters to just two fights in a given year instead of three, which the Hall of Fame promoter prefers. And it’s forced Top Rank to find innovative ways to maintain its commitment to televise the fights of its younger boxers.

A doubleheader topped by a featherweight title fight between Oscar Valdez vs. Miguel Marriaga with a super middleweight title bout featuring Gilberto Ramirez and Jesse Hart wasn’t purchased by HBO in April. Instead, Top Rank produced its own pay-per-view show with Valdez-Marriaga and Ramirez against a lesser foe, Max Bursak.

The 85-year-old was especially frosty toward HBO during the final press conference ahead of the Crawford-Felix Diaz fight on the network late last month. Diaz promoter Lou DiBella thanked HBO, and Arum fired off a diatribe asking why anyone would thank a network for televising fights, equating it to NBA superstar LeBron James thanking TNT after a game.

“Boxing, on a global basis, is one of the biggest sports in the world,” Arum said during an interview with RingTV.com last month in New York. “Unfortunately, we haven’t seen that in the United States because everything is either on pay-per-view or on two premium networks (HBO and Showtime), which have a limited audience.

“For example, they did a survey at HBO. Of the 30 million subscribers, less than 5 percent really wanted to watch boxing. That’s a million-and-a-half households. A lot of those households will have other appointments when a fight is aired. So you’re dealing with a (expletive) small audience.

“If the number of fans on Showtime, which is even smaller, have the same percentage [who are avid boxing fans], which is 5 percent, then you probably have [less viewers]. It’s less than a million homes. So what the (expletive) are we talking about?

When RingTV.com asked Arum if he had a plan in the works to bring fights to another platform, he replied, “No comment.” Following Crawford’s impressive win over Diaz, Arum was again asked at ringside about his company’s future relationship with HBO on the heels of his comments.

“That’s none of your (expletive) business!” Arum shouted. “What the (expletive) are you talking about? HBO has done great for boxing. They’ve been very good to boxing. I have nothing bad to say about HBO, but they’re just a (expletive) network. That’s all they are. They don’t own the business of boxing.

“And you may also want to call up the guy over at Showtime (Stephen Espinoza, who runs the sports side) and tell him the same thing. He doesn’t own boxing. He’s just a (expletive) network that puts on stuff for their subscribers.”

Arum and Co. haven’t just signed top prospects from the 2016 Olympic class like Michael Conlan, Shakur Stevenson and a host of others. The company also has been in talks with fighters like heavyweight contender Bryant Jennings in an attempt to bolster their stable with plenty more TV dates coming their way.

Top Rank already has a slew of possible fights lined up to air in late summer/early fall as part of the new series, matchups currently in talks like the Lomachenko-Orlando Salido rematch, the 140-pound unification bout between Crawford and Julius Indongo and the aforementioned matchup pitting Ramirez against Hart.

The company recently canceled its upcoming shows on Spanish-language network UniMas, a television series that bleeds millions of dollars. With the new series waiting in the wings and the anticipation of ample dates coming to gain greater exposure for its vast stable of talent, UniMas is a money-sucker that is no longer necessary.

After all, Top Rank will be doing far more major shows, and the prospects that would appear on UniMas will have new opportunities for exposure. Top Rank broadcasts its undercards for HBO shows on the promotional company’s official website, and it’s possible that will be an option in conjunction with the new series.

“How do you say that boxing isn’t a big sport, has lost interest, when you’re televising your fights on your biggest platform to a relatively small number of people,” Arum continued during the interview. “Because if you went to regular television, they have 100 million homes, and if even 5 percent are interested, you at least start with a potential audience of 5 million.

“(PBC creator Al) Haymon tried doing one way; it didn’t work. Nobody is big enough to have ruined anything.”

Arum has found a way to keep his fighters active, and likely on a bigger platform. The days of Top Rank relying on HBO for TV dates appear to be over — at least for now.

The biggest question still remains, of course: On which platform will the fights land?

That’s a mystery at this juncture. What is clear is that Top Rank had a plan to stay ahead of the curve with HBO’s dwindling budget, and soon it will all be executed.