In June DAZN launched its new Saturday Fight Night, billed as the destination for premium fight nights. Transforming Saturday night into an all‑action weekly appointment viewing, Saturday Fight Night establishes a consistent weekly rhythm for boxing fans, delivering the sport’s biggest fighters in the biggest fights across a packed 52-week schedule.

Built on DAZN’s relationships with the sport’s leading promoters and featuring DAZN’s best-in-class broadcast production and talent lineup, Saturday Fight Night brings the sport’s biggest fights, sharpest rivalries and breakout names together under one weekly banner, making it the world’s most consistent destination for premium boxing.

Host broadcast

SVG Europe caught up with Jason McCarthy, head of boxing editorial at DAZN, to find out more about how the branded nights are operating. 

DAZN is the host broadcaster for the majority of events in the UK and US which are featuring on Saturday fight Night, but not all. DAZN works with a number of production and technical services partners, with the specific partner selected based on the event location, scale, technical requirements and tier of the event. “This allows us to use the most appropriate local or regional expertise, while maintaining consistent production standards across all broadcasts,” notes McCarthy.

He comments on the production plan for DAZN’s fights managed as the host broadcaster.  “The production strategy is to deliver the best shows possible within the budget resources for each event. We want to deliver the best product to boxing fans worldwide and the team takes great pride in delivering the high volume of shows, while maintaining high standards within all areas of our production.”

DAZN uses various camera plans depending on the tiering of each event and production budget allocated. The amount of broadcast cameras can range from anywhere between 10 cameras for a small hall show, to over 20 cameras for its biggest pay per views (PPVs), including drone cameras where possible.

Distinct AR visuals

Saturday Fight Night brings with it a distinct new brand and visual identity that is being rolled out across every consumer touchpoint: the DAZN platform, broadcast presentation, social media channels, marketing, and in-arena. Designed to help fans navigate the sport more easily, the new unified look acts as a clear visual cue, making Saturday Fight Night content instantly identifiable wherever it appears.

For the launch of Saturday fight Night, graphics were an important consideration. Says McCarthy: “We have just launched our new look graphics package for Saturday Fight Night. The reaction both internally and externally has been very positive, which isn’t always the case when a big change is implemented.

“The goal was to make the new look as impactful as possible, and we have certainly achieved that,” he continues. “We do use AR graphics on selected broadcasts, that we believe can be elevated by the dynamic world of augmented reality. We are always looking at improving our live production and assessing ways to evolve our broadcasts alongside available technology wherever possible.”

For those larger fights, the ring walk is now a dramatic staple that viewers at home enjoy watching. On how DAZN includes those in its productions, McCarthy says: “The way we cover ring walks depends on multiple factors. The number of cameras, the venue, inside or outside, lighting, length of the ring walk, if there is a special performance involved or additional people alongside the fighter, single or multiple music tracks. In the larger venues, geography is important so aerial cameras can add a lot to a ring walk. So there are many different variables to think about for our directors to make sure the ring walks look as good as possible.”

Instantly recognisable

To make the schedule easy to follow and instantly recognisable, Saturday Fight Night’s weekly bouts are organised into three clearly defined tiers:

Championship: The sport’s defining title fights, including contests for the four major world championships sanctioned by the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO.

Main Event: The nights built on names, narrative and bad blood. Not for a belt, but always the fights and rivalries the whole sport is talking about.

Rising Stars: Fights featuring the next generation of boxers, before the world catches on.

Pay-Per-View: Separate from the weekly tiers and sitting at the very top of the boxing calendar, are Saturday Fight Night’s Pay-Per-View events, the sport’s rarest, biggest nights. Reserved for the global occasions that transcend the schedule and define the year, these are the marquee events worth clearing the calendar for.

In the UK, fans can now see the biggest promoters going head to head 52 weeks a year, including Matchroom Boxing, Queensberry Promotions, Boxxer, MF Pro and Misfits, with coverage presented and analysed by DAZN’s broadcast talent including Ade Oladipo, Anna Woolhouse, Tony Bellew, Carl Frampton, Adam Smith, Darren Barker and Barry Jones.

In the US, fans can see fight nights from Matchroom USA, Top Rank, Golden Boy, Dmitry Salita, and many more, with Saturday fight night complimenting The Fight series, which has recently been launched on TNT Sports. These fight nights will be delivered by a broadcast team that includes Kate Scott, Todd Grisham, Chris Mannix, Sergio Mora, and special guest analysts.