A weighty decision is looming for Joshua
If he sticks with Showtime, it would make it easier to stage a bout against Wilder.
As heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua returns to the ring Saturday, the most pressing question isn’t whether he’s going to defeat replacement opponent Carlos Takam.
What Joshua (19-0, 19 knockouts) has to sort out, as a potential 2018 showdown against fellow unbeaten champion Deontay Wilder of the U.S. looms, is which premium cable network in America he’s going to align with.
Joshua’s rise to prominence in American households has come with four fights on Showtime, a journey that included his triumphant 11th-round technical knockout of long-reigning champion Wladimir Klitschko in front of 90,000 at Wembley Stadium.
It continues with Saturday’s (2 p.m. Pacific time) defense of Joshua’s two belts against Cameroon’s Takam (35-3-1, 27 KOs) at an enclosed soccer stadium in Cardiff, Wales, expected to draw 78,000.
There’s one fight remaining on the Showtime-Joshua deal after that, heightening the urgency to make the unification bout against Showtime-aligned Wilder during the first half of 2018.
Recent boxing history has been scarred by examples when conflicting Showtime-HBO allegiances have prevented or delayed compelling matchups from happening.
Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) defends his belt Nov. 4 at New York’s Barclays Center against former champion Bermane Stiverne, whom Wilder won the belt from in January 2015.
“We’ve been very supportive of the heavyweight division for years,” Showtime Executive Vice President Stephen Espinoza said.
“By the end of this year, we’ll have televised 10 heavyweight title fights in the past two years. Staying in business with Showtime makes a Joshua-Wilder fight more feasible.
“Joshua-Wilder is the fight everybody’s talking about in the division. That fight’s easier to do if they’re both at Showtime.”
The curveball to the situation is that Joshua is promoted by England’s Eddie Hearn, who has created an American headquarters for his Matchroom Boxing, signing fighters including Brooklyn’s former middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs, who will be given a Nov. 11 main event on HBO.
Hearn was spotted ringside in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Oct. 21, sitting next to HBO Executive Vice President Peter Nelson during bantamweight champion Ryan Burnett’s title-unification victory.
That bout didn’t attract much attention in the U.S., but the move was a clear attempt to curry favor with Hearn.
Nelson didn’t immediately return messages about Joshua, whom Hearn calls the world’s most popular and important fighter.
Joshua said he’s intent to “pour some blood, drip some sweat” in the U.S., where the greatest heavyweight champions of the past were produced while also maintaining appearances as the massively popular draw in the U.K.
He said he’ll fight Wilder “any time. It’s what the division — and what Wilder — needs. We’ll give it to them, sooner or later. When you really look at it, what else am I going to do in 2018, providing I don’t have a mandatory [title defense]?
“It can be built to be something like the Klitschko fight, something mega . ... I can’t say it’ll be in the U.S. for sure. I have smart businessmen like Eddie Hearn around me. So it’s, ‘Do we want to create something,’ like the Klitschko spectacle, ‘again, or do something new,’ ” like debuting in the U.S.? “It’s good to have options.”
Hearn is keen enough to maximize the financial impact of those options.
Last week, he thanked Showtime for “backing Anthony Joshua early in the day and building him. Matchroom Boxing USA is one business. Anthony Joshua is another business. Ultimately, the channel he fights on is not dependent on what network Matchroom Boxing USA is on. We’ll do the right thing for Anthony Joshua.”
Following 2016 budget restrictions, HBO’s standing as the primary boxing platform was further weakened this year by the shift of Top Rank fighters to ESPN.
By landing Joshua, whom HBO televised on a delayed basis in April thanks to its partnership with Klitschko, the network could alleviate this year’s damage knowing it’s also the home network of the most popular active fighter in the U.S., Canelo Alvarez, and unbeaten three-belt middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin.
In September, HBO boldly bid $1.6 million to televise this weekend’s Joshua fight — against since-injured foe Kubrat Pulev. But Showtime retained its broadcasting rights by matching the offer.
“We’ll do everything we can to ensure Anthony will remain on Showtime,” Espinoza said. “We’re deeply committed to the sport of boxing and it shows in our time and resources, and as big supporters of the sport, we believe that will go a long way with Anthony and Matchroom.
“We’re confident they’ll independently evaluate the opportunities, and we’re confident we’ll remain as Anthony’s partner. Our success with [Floyd] Mayweather speaks for itself about being able to attract and promote the biggest boxers in the sport.”