ITV's boxing coverage had largely been confined to big fights from the US in the 1970s and early 80s, which were covered as part of World of Sport and as separate programmes.
Until 1984, they were largely shut out of British domestic boxing due to a cartel operated by promoters such as Jarvis Astaire, Harry Levene and Mickey Duff, who had contracts with the BBC.
Several years later, a contract with Barry Hearn followed as a result of his friendship with Greg Dyke, while the network also worked closely with other promoters including Don King.
This was a particularly fruitful period for ITV's boxing coverage, as they featured fights involving boxers such as Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank and Naseem Hamed.
The decline of ITV's boxing portfolio began in mid-1994 when Barry Hearn took Chris Eubank and his stable of fighters to Sky Sports.
It achieved a peak audience of 6.3 million viewers, encouraging ITV to reach a long-term agreement to show future Sports Network boxing promotions.
Amir Khan moved back to ITV in 2010, with his fight against Paulie Malignaggi broadcast live in the early hours of Sunday 15 May 2010.
In 2015, ITV started screening live boxing matches once again beginning with Carl Frampton's fight against Chris Avalos.
The first programme of the new deal was the IBF Super Middleweight title fight between Jose Uzcategui and Caleb Plant in the early hours of Monday 14 January 2019, UK time, which was broadcast live on ITV4.