ANTHONY JOSHUA’S FUTURE fights will be screened on DAZN after the broadcaster confirmed a long-mooted link-up with the British heavyweight.
The move means the end of Joshua’s deal with Sky Sports, which has been in place throughout his professional career.
The deal is reportedly worth £100million a year to the 32-year-old fighter from Watford, England, who will become a shareholder in DAZN as well as a global ambassador and special advisor to the group.
The length of the deal has not been disclosed and may depend on for how long Joshua intends to continue boxing professionally.
The former beltholder is due to take on Oleksandr Usyk in a rematch in August after the Ukrainian beat the Briton last September.
“I am entering a new phase in my career with a new training environment, new coaches and now a new broadcaster,” Joshua said.
“Negotiations at this level take time, so I am pleased to have it all wrapped up and now I can fully focus on giving the fans and DAZN what they want – knockouts in the glamour division.
“I’ve been working with DAZN and following its progress for a long time. We have enjoyed a really successful partnership in the US for many years and I know the team and understand the passion and drive of the business.”
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, ended his broadcasting relationship with Sky Sports and brought the bulk of his Matchroom stable — including Katie Taylor — exclusively to DAZN 12 months ago. Joshua, however, was an exception in that he had his own existing UK-exclusivity contract with Sky, and he subsequently fought Usyk for the first time on Sky Sports Box Office last September.
That was the final fight on Joshua’s Sky deal, however, meaning he was free to switch broadcasters and join the rest of his Matchroom stablemates on DAZN’s global streaming platform, which in recent years has shown his fights in countries outside of the UK and Ireland.
“We have been successfully working in partnership with DAZN for many years now and this new announcement with Anthony Joshua emphasises why they continue to set the standard for the future of sports broadcasting,” Hearn said. “We have a shared vision with DAZN to make it the unrivalled home of boxing for fans across the world. Now with Anthony joining the team the stage is set to do even more together and we are looking forward to getting started.”
Hearn once declared DAZN’s introduction to boxing as the end of pay-per-view fights, which are particularly financially prohibitive in the USA. However, the subscription broadcaster recently moved Canelo Alvarez’s recent unsuccessful challenge of light-heavyweight world champion Dmitry Bivol behind a PPV paywall, charging existing customers in the USA and Canada $59.99 to watch the fight, and new customers $79.99.
While nothing of the sort has yet been confirmed by Hearn or DAZN, future Joshua fights — beginning with the Usyk rematch this summer — could conceivably take place on pay-per-view in Ireland and the UK — but they would likely be significantly cheaper than the standard North American pricing, coming in somewhere closer to €28 as was the case for Joshua-Usyk I on Sky Sports Box Office.
- With additional reporting by Gavan Casey
