"Sky blocking AJ by paying him more" - Eddie Hearn

Losses are less damaging in MMA though so not sure its a good example to be honest.

AJ can definitely still do good numbers if he loses in a good fashion. Whether he will still have the drive and ambition is another matter though.

 

Good post, but I think it might depend upon what his new team can get out of him even in defeat. If it is a repeat of the first fight, then I what you say probably happens with general fan base. If he makes a better go of it, they might be able to spin it similar to Wilder following Fury 3.

I hope, the Wilder and Fury fights can still happen. It would be a lot of money left on the table if not.

I agree with you on Whyte though. But then again, I think they will put Whyte in with another top 20 guy. If he comes through that, then the Joshua fight would have legs again.

Personally, I don't see him skirting Dubois and Joyce. Two UK fighters, who would be easy routes back to a title shot. More likely Warren wouldn't want to make those fights unless the money is right. As he would be basically selling their rankings to Joshua, as I don't currently see Joshua having too many issues with either guy.

Hrgovic, I agree; I don't see that fight happening. If you think the Whyte rematch would have a lack of interest, how are they going to sell the general public on Hrgovic? Of course, if Hrgovic was to say beat Zhang on the undercard that might build interest.

 

And Conor McGregor is 10x bigger than AJ.

 

What is the undercard?

 

If Joshua loses he retires. I fully expect him never to actually fight on DAZN.

 

He's going to retire at 33 after one of this his biggest ever pay days? I think that is unlikely

 

If AJ loses against Usyk I can’t see him fighting on DAZN being that marketable most of the other heavyweights are with rival networks so who would he fight Whyte? Chisora ? And what would be the point with no belts sorry no decent belts on the line !

 

Isn't it silly tying yourself down to one promoter and one TV network for the rest of your career?

Maybe the reasoning is above my head but to me it just doesnt make sense. Guys at AJ's level and stage of their careers are usually promoter and TV network free, picking and choosing where they want to go fight by fight. He's done the opposite.


If you ask him why he's done this, you wont get a straight answer. You'll get some psychobabble riddle filled, boring, long speech.

 

Joshua is in a unique position where his name alone can sell a fight, he is the attraction not the titles. He is the only fighter around who when he fights you will see loads of women wanting to watch. Pubs on his fight nights would be pretty much 50/50 men and women and they weren’t just being dragged there by their men, they would be joining in the singing and shouting. I bet not many of them could name the belts he had, because they are inconsequential to many.

At the moment Joshua is a unique attraction in this country. Would his drawing power take a hit if he lost to Usyk again? Probably. But he’d still be the biggest box office attraction in this country by a long way, and while that’s still the case he’d be crazy to retire with tens (hundreds?) of millions of pounds on the table.

 

Because he's a star in the US and benefits from the backing of a single governing / promotional body in UFC. Joshua might have a decent promoter (although it's fair to say Matchroom have made mistakes with him) but boxing is a hard sport to get across to people, when politics, mandatories and alphabet titles get in the way. McGregor just makes big fights and is willing to lose them.

 

What mistakes have Matchroom made with him? They’ve done an unbelievable job with him.

 

AJ fights removed from sky boxing youtube channel. Pretty sure AJ owns the rights to his fights as the Pulev and Usuyk fight now on his own youtube channel.

Very strange timing to do this if sky have the rematch. Surely sky would want to use the first fight for promotion of the rematch?

This content is protected

Dillian Whyte fights also removed so not sure what that's about. Wouldn't think he is signing with Boxxer if his fights are being removed from the sky boxing channel.

Or he is signing with Boxxer but matchroom own the rights not Whyte or Sky.

 

2017 to 2019 Joshua was pulling in over 1.5m for some fights, that’s fell by almost two thirds now. The rise of Fury happened at the same time as Joshua’s demise. This idea that he’s still a huge box office star is way off IMO - if he loses again to Usyk he’s finished.

 

All useless puddings at heavyweight and in fact the heavyweight division in general better hope big AJ’s star continues to shine.every one of them have earned fortunes solely riding off his back.Wilder and Fury being prime beneficiaries.Think he should be getting a big Thank you from all tbf.

 

Being with one overpaying promoter probably protects his downside while possibly limiting the upside (although he may have a clause to get a percentage of PPV or PPV above a certain number to help on that end).

Dazn needs an attraction and are betting on him regaining the title, in which case they’ve got their star. If he loses, I assume Dazn is obligated to pay him more than he’d likely get on the open market and thus the contract would favor AJ.

Be interesting to know the details (that’s always the devil) — does AJ take pay cuts after each loss for the next fight, can they outright drop him if he loses say two in a row (after Usyk II)?