Joshua vs. Klitschko - U.S. Television Situation Still Up in The Air

By Steve Kim

So just who will televise the heavyweight title bout between Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko on April 29th from Wembley Stadium in London, England?

While Klitschko has had a long association with HBO, Joshua last year entered into an exclusive deal with rival network Showtime (which has broadcast his last few fights).

"Well, it has taken longer than I expected and a little thornier than I expected, as well," admitted Stephen Espinoza, the Executive V.P. and G.M. of Showtime Sports, on Thursday afternoon to BoxingScene.com. "It's sort of a mini-version of Mayweather-Pacquiao in terms of network affiliation and so far we haven't been able to resolve it. But there's a couple of scenario's on the table now which are sort of 'split the baby' solutions which I'm somewhat optimistic that we'll be able to make progress on very, very soon.

As for the possibility of both networks airing the fight live, Espinoza stated that would not be a possibility.

"Not simultaneously, no," he made it clear. "We did consider a simultaneous broadcast early on but it was quickly dismissed by us, we objected. I can't recall if HBO did as well."

One solution is to have one network air the fight live and the other two show the replay later that night.

"That is a possibility, that's one of the options that's been discussed. I'm not sure that will ultimately be the one we settle on. But that's one I would call a 'split the baby' resolution," said Espinoza.

Joshua-Klitschko, which has the IBF, IBO, WBA world titles at stake, will be carried in the UK on pay-per-view through Sky Sports Box Office. Klitschko has been out of the ring since losing an upset decision to Tyson Fury in November 2015, while Joshua fought last December with an easy knockout of Eric Molina.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.