Anthony Joshua ditches Sky Sports and signs eight-figure deal with DAZN

Despite his loss to Usyk in September, Joshua remains one of the most lucrative fighters in world boxing.
Joshua had offers from both Sky Sports and DAZN after his deal with the former expired last year.

The 2012 Olympic champion was widely expected to continue his association with Sky Sports - having joined the broadcasting giants in 2013 - but he has now put pen to paper on a deal which will see him earn eight figures over the next three to five years.
Joshua - a former two-time heavyweight world champion - said it was DAZN's 'passion' that inspired him to follow Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing.

AJ said: "I am entering a new phase in my career with a new training environment, new coaches and now a new broadcaster. "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. "DAZN's vision and passion to innovate is what attracted me to the partnership. "They are leading the digital landscape in sport and the future of sports broadcasting. "I am really looking forward to a long and successful partnership."

Hearn added: "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. "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." Joshua will bid to avenge his defeat against Usyk on August 20 in Saudi Arabia.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...id=msedgntphdr

DAZN loves bad contracts

With AJ being a "brand ambassador" and special advisor, this could prove to be a problem for Sky's 258 fighters.

This means that AJ will fight on regardless of the result against Usyk. He wins he will defend against anyone except Fury for as long as he can get away with it.

If AJ loses he will rebuild on DAZN platform with even easier fights.

AJ is a quality fighter but has been manufactured by SKY and Matchroom to be a global star but he is not made from the same cloth as Tyson Fury.

so this will be a 2 fight deal then max

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Originally Posted by Mark TKO

so this will be a 2 fight deal then max

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🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍

So I guess Usyk needs a ko now :-X. A whole new meaning to house fighter. Always good to think long term for a fighter but odd for Dazn who already seems to hemorrhage money. And you can't just assume a fighter already on the edge will carry on after another convincing loss at the highest level. And what does that do for the mindset and motivation of AJ if you are guaranteed millions for "easy opponents" down the road.

Alvarez signed a deal like this with the same company but was able to opt out of it. I'm sure there would have been opt outs for the streaming people too. Hard not to think they have something similar here. If Joshua manages to get beaten up and stopped or sparked in the rematch he loses an awful lot of value. He's just an ex champion then and the biggest thing he has going for him is he's British and could be in a huge fight with Fury. But that's a huge fight in Britain. In America, where this streaming company really have designs on making inroads, he's just an ex champ with two defeats against smaller guys, one of whom resembled the Michelin Man. He could fight Wilder if Wilder fights again but that would be two damaged goods ex champs in a probable nontitle bout. Fun fight to watch but not a huge PPV event.

No specific number mentioned in the article. Eight figures is ten million pounds or one big fight and they're saying eight figures over three to five years. Hard to see any significant sum being guaranteed and lots of opt out options and renegotiation possible depending on future results I would guess.