From influencers to queens of women's boxing - five years of MVP

On 29 August, one of the feistiest upstarts in modern boxing will celebrate a fifth anniversary.

On the same date in 2021, Most Valuable Promotions' headline bout for its inaugural show in Cleveland, Ohio, featured co-founder and online influencer Jake Paul taking on MMA fighter Tyron Woodley in the boxing ring.

MVP's second event, just under four months later in Tampa, Florida, was a Paul-Woodley rematch.

For a long time, MVP's most notable event featured Paul - regarded as the face of YouTuber boxing - fighting Mike Tyson.

It came at a time when Tyson was so far over the hill that the hill could not be seen in the rearview mirror.

MVP's reputation developed as it put together cards with names and output that were anathema to boxing purists.

The five-year anniversary card, however, shows a side of MVP which has emerged alongside what some would consider its gaudiness.

And perhaps what takes place this weekend offers a better indication of the promotion's future than the fights that have gone before.

The main card features five women's bouts, headlined by Mikaela Mayer taking on Chantelle Cameron to unify the WBA, WBC and WBO light-middleweight belts.

The primary support will showcase Caroline Dubois defending her WBC and WBO lightweight titles against Amelia Moore.

MVP, for years dismissed by critics as a snot-nosed upstart of promotion, could now be regarded as a major player and the primary UK promoter of women's boxing.

"Respect, I think, is the biggest change. I've seen and felt it," Dubois told BBC Sport.

"I remember coming into the scene of the sporting world and if you say you're a female boxer, people will look at you like 'ah' – but now people are like 'OK, let's see you fight' – it's not a joke, a gimmick, a side caricature. It's part of the real deal."

Fellow Briton Cameron left promoter Queensberry for MVP last year.

Her WBC interim title fight against Patricia Berghult in November 2024 had been a co-main event at Birmingham's BP Pulse Arena.

Eight months later, Cameron fought Jessica Camara at New York's iconic Madison Square Garden.

She returns to the BP Pulse on Saturday, this time in the outright headline fight for her biggest bout since a 2023 double-header against Katie Taylor.

"MVP are taking over women's boxing," Cameron told BBC Sport. "They've been amazing. Everything they've said they'll do, they've done.

"They got me my world title shot. They got me my Mayer fight. It's all been so quick – it's just my third fight with them."

Before her spell with Queenberry, Cameron had been on Matchroom's books. She beat Taylor in their first fight, before the Irish superstar avenged the defeat second time around.

"The Katie Taylor fights were great fights and both will always go down in history," she said. "But it dipped. I lost momentum. Went on the shelf. I couldn't get the names, couldn't get the fights, nobody wanted to fight me. I wanted the fights, but they just weren't happening."

Dubois, Cameron, Mayer and Terri Harper are among the top women's boxing talent signed to MVP.

Serrano, Alycia Baumgardner and former undisputed super-bantamweight champion Ellie Scotney are also on board.

So why is MVP the go-to promoter for such female boxing talent?

Dubois has developed a brash new persona since working with MVP - calling out Harper before her previous bout before some verbal sparring led to a feisty face-off.

Tacky? Some might think so. But it saw Dubois move from fighting at the tiny Park Community Arena in Sheffield to Miami and London's Olympia.

"They've helped me get to that next level," Dubois says. "I want to be involved in the best, the biggest and the most important fights in boxing.

"Jake [Paul] brings the social influencer dynamic. He gave me tips and pointers and how I should build these fights.

"We're entertainers, that's what we are. It's always good to get that insight from someone who is technically outside of the sport. He has that fresh mindset. MVP have that on lock."

While Dubois defends her titles on Saturday, Harper, who lost their April bout on points, begins her rebuild earlier on the card against Miranda Reyes.

Harper considered retirement after losing to Sandy Ryan in 2024, but she had no such thoughts after defeat to Dubois.

"I'm nearly 30 now and I now really want to enjoy it," Harper told BBC Sport. "It's my last roll of the dice to see how far I can push to become a four-weight world champion.

"MVP have delivered the fights I want, and a greater audience."

MVP looks to balance its serious stance on women's boxing with its influencer roots - August plans featured an 'MVP x Tiktok Live' event, starring Serrano.

There is no doubt that if MVP is to keep up its momentum in women's sport, the arena events and headline acts have to stay.

"I remember my first amateur fight in Camden, or walking into the gym when I was nine years old at Repton," Dubois says.

"Now I'm fighting there and I'm talking about headlining and talking about fighting on Netflix."

If there is one thing an organisation led by Paul can provide, it is talk and spectacle.

For Cameron and Mayer, MVP has the chance to make a real difference in women's boxing.

"I'm an advocate for three-minute rounds," says Cameron. "We've got a long way to go, but if more women started doing what the men do, we can start saying they give us the opportunity for equality for women's boxing."

Fighters like Cameron and Mayer have memories that go back beyond the dawn of MVP. They know how their sport has struggled, and know the work still needed.

"In order for a sport to develop, they need to compete and women are a step behind because we weren't allowed to even compete in the Olympics until 2012," says Mayer.

"It's not going to happen overnight, but this is what we needed to take women's boxing to the next step."