Boxing promotion has always been a delicate balancing act between getting fans to buy into a fighter whilst also manoeuvring them safely and sensibly through the levels.

The landscape is changing and, these days, promoters also have to factor in the growing number of casual boxing fans who want action rather than progress and put more store in a fighter posting a funny Instagram reel or clever meme than a workmanlike, 10-round decision victory over a gnarled, former champion.

Earlier this month, Matchroom Boxing announced the signing of Ben Whittaker. The charismatic light heavyweight appeals to all but he is also just another piece of the puzzle the promotional company have been assembling over the past few months.

Teenage heavyweight Leo Atang has made an immediate impact as has the exciting, hard-hitting Tiah-Mai Ayton.

Adam Maca, 18, hasn’t been shy about laying out his world title aspirations whilst Giorgio Visioli and Pat Brown have already established themselves as bonafide prospects.

This weekend, undefeated middleweight George Liddard, fights the experienced Kieron Conway for his British and Commonwealth titles live on DAZN.

Whittaker's signing has grabbed headlines but Matchroom have clearly been making a determined effort to revitalise their product.

They recently unveiled a new logo and their fight week activities have a different look and feel but adding a large group of young, exciting additions to the stable is the clearest indication of the way Matchroom are headed.

"A hundred percent," Matchroom Boxing CEO Frank Smith, told The Ring.

"Look, we're a business that never gets complacent. We're always looking at how we take it forward and always thinking about three-to-five years ahead, not just six months. A lot of people in boxing think short term - that's not something we've ever done.

"We're excited about what the future holds, not just in the UK, but in the US as well.”

The flamboyant Whittaker, of course, won a silver medal at the delayed 2020 Olympics in Tokyo but the vast majority of the fighters currently headlining British shows and carrying events are boxers who turned professional without any elite amateur experience and have slowly but surely worked their way through the rankings and towards the top of cards.

Matchroom handpicked the popular, all-action cruiserweight Brown, from Team GB's 2024 Olympic team but the likes of Atang, Ayton and Maca will learn their trade as professionals.

They may be young and raw but haven't been worn down physically and mentally by years spent competing in elite amateur tournaments and fans will be able to follow their careers from the very beginning.

"Yeah, I think sometimes with those amateurs that stay in the amateurs for too long, they're turning over a lot older in the sport," Smith said.

"I think when we look at the fighters we sign, when you look at Leo Atang, Tiah-Mai Ayton, Adam Maca, Pat Brown, these are all fighters ready to go and want to test themselves. They've got a great profile, great following and understand the game as well.

"So you've always got to adjust, always move forward, you can't just stand still.

"I've been working in boxing now for 15, 16 years and when you have moments like the Ben Whittaker signing, it's those moments that really sort of give you a real buzz to keep on kicking up. It feels different."

Matchroom have always invested in youngsters but, in the past, they have been propped up by established fan favourites and world level fighters who had almost been forced into public consciousness by the power of Sky Sports.

British boxing is in a delicate position.

Heavyweights and high-profile 50-50 fights will always move tickets but with huge figures like Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua, Derek Chisora, Dillian Whyte heading towards the end of their careers and a host of other big ticket sellers entering their mid-30s, it is important the next generation of British boxing quickly begin to cross over into the mainstream.

Matchroom's new group of youngsters won't be rushed but have been handed a major platform and it seems like they are going to be expected to shoulder their share of the load earlier than they previously may have.

"Yeah, but then you look at Lewis Crocker-Paddy Donovan. We had 20,000 people in Belfast a couple of weeks ago, we've got 10,000 people in Sheffield this week," Smith said a couple of days before Dave Allen's main event matchup with Arslanbek Makhmudov.

"I hear a lot of people talking about building stars and building a star on DAZN. It's about the character, if you've got that, it doesn't matter where they are.

"There's multiple ways of building a fighter and platforms are important. DAZN having a global platform to grow the sport is key for us and why we made the move with them but it's about consistently evolving, moving forward and working with fighters who understand it.

"There's a lot of fighters who don't get it, don't want to play the game. Not everyone's always going to be a Ben Whittaker or these younger fighters who get and understand it but you want to work with people who want to put themselves out there.”

During the rush to modernise the sport, it tends to be forgotten that a sizeable percentage of boxing fans are over the age of 40, still enjoy reading magazines and like watching fights without having to download and install apps. However, it is also absolutely crucial the sport manages to tap into a younger demographic and then keep them invested.

People's attention spans are shortening. A good proportion of sports fans spend a fair amount of their spare time thumbing through 140-character long posts on X or watching YouTube shorts and looped Instagram reels. Entertainers and sportsmen in every field only have a certain amount of time to make an impression and capture an audience.

Whittaker has proven exactly what is possible. The brief highlight video of his showboating performance against Khalid Graidia in February 2024 led to him being featured on ESPN in America and catapulted him into public consciousness.

Matchroom’s new intake are all young but - most importantly - all exciting, aggressive and capable of creating viral moments in the ring.

"We live in a world where people's ability to focus on something struggles to go beyond 30 seconds," Smith said.

"We live in a world of reels and TikTok. No one can really focus beyond that so you need to captivate the audience. It's even like the set-up of these press conferences. Changing things around because otherwise people just get bored and that's why everything we do is about attracting the new, younger audience."