DAZN saves Kingpyn boxing in surprise acquisition after bankruptcy

DAZN seems to have saved Kingpyn’s bacon after the influencer-boxing promotion reportedly filed for bankruptcy ahead of its final tournament coming up in August.

The influencer-boxing space is bigger than ever before, with creators from multiple social media platforms across the net hoping to settle their beefs in the ring.

First kicked off by KSI and Logan Paul in 2018, the influencer-boxing bug is still going strong years later… but one hopeful event in the space almost got shot down permanently due to financial strains.

On July 5, sources close to Happy Punch claimed that Kingpyn had filed for bankruptcy right as the tournament was approaching its Finals on August 5.

The tournament had already gone through its first iteration in April, when its semi-final event for July was canceled — leaving its fighters, who’d trained for months hoping to get a stint in the ring, with a slew of unanswered questions.

Kingpyn tournament semi-finals rescheduled amid DAZN acquisition

It looks like those questions have now been put to rest as, on July 7, DAZN posted a cryptic message to its Twitter account with the crown emoji, the pushpin emoji, and the looking eyes emoji. Fans took this to mean that the combat sports streaming platform had acquired Kingpyn boxing.

This was later seemingly confirmed by Kingpyn themselves, who posted a fight poster for the semi-finals to their Twitter page with the DAZN logo emblazoned upon it. The promotion confirmed that Kingpyn will be streamed on DAZN, but on a different date than originally penned.

Instead, it looks like the semi-finals will air exclusively on DAZN on July 15. The bout will take place at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, followed by the Finals in August at the O2 Arena in London – although it’s unclear if this date will also change.

“The semi-finals of the Kingpyn boxing tournament, headlined by @whindersson vs. @KingKennyTv will be live on DAZN, July 15,” the wrote on their post.

Although names like KSI mocked Kingpyn over their purported bankruptcy claims, this marks yet another major influencer-boxing acquisition for DAZN, who previously compiled a five-year deal with KSI’s Misfits Boxing that’s still going strong months later.