Comments Thread For: Joshua Will Continue To Be a Priority For Showtime, Says Espinoza

[BIGPOPPAPUMP]

As has been the case since his bout against Charles Martin last April (when he won his IBF heavyweight title), Showtime will be televising Anthony Joshua's upcoming bout versus Kubrat Pulev on October 28th from Cardiff. Soon this exclusive deal between the network and Matchroom Sports and Joshua will end in another fight or two. But it's clear that Showtime will make it a priority to keep Joshua on their airwaves.
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[Lou Cipher]

As if they have a choice.

[LM17]

As if they have a choice.

HBO are lurking big time with the Matchroom USA deal, Showtime feeling the pressure

[Pigeons]

HBO took Canelo and they're about to take Joshua. Showtime struggles to keep non-Haymon fighters.

[Scipio2009]

Money talks

HBO are lurking big time with the Matchroom USA deal, Showtime feeling the pressure

HBO can lurk all they want, their commitment to boxing is such that, if it comes down to a battle of network priorities, I still don't see HBO putting up the money.

Anthony Joshua is a Sky Box Office fighter in the UK, and will likely fight on PPV/Sky Box Office were he to fight in the US.

The only current PPV fight that I see coming is Joshua-Wilder (August 2018 would be perfect for it). Is HBO really going to spend the $5m to $10m that'll be needed to air a year's worth of Joshua's fights in the UK, matinee/night, with no real US path to make their money back?

[Kigali]

HBO can lurk all they want, their commitment to boxing is such that, if it comes down to a battle of network priorities, I still don't see HBO putting up the money.

Anthony Joshua is a Sky Box Office fighter in the UK, and will likely fight on PPV/Sky Box Office were he to fight in the US.

The only current PPV fight that I see coming is Joshua-Wilder (August 2018 would be perfect for it). Is HBO really going to spend the $5m to $10m that'll be needed to air a year's worth of Joshua's fights in the UK, matinee/night, with no real US path to make their money back?

**Crickets**

[Lou Cipher]

HBO are lurking big time with the Matchroom USA deal, Showtime feeling the pressure

They put all their marbles into scum cheater quitters with no loyalty and now they're left scrounging for names LOL

[Eff Pandas]

Has Showtime showed 5 of his fights? Is that Whyte to Klitschko or Walk the Earth Like A God to Pulev? Damn didn't realize they done so many of his fights.

But I think Hearn in bed with HBO & this matching rights deal coming to a close with this fight or the next one, maybe from the sounds of this article, I think they are gonna be on the losing end of the Joshua road to riches.

In fact now that I think of it him downplaying the Wilder fight & fighting Wilder in general might be him steering away to HBO right there cuz surely if Hearn is planning on bringing Joshua over to HBO Joshua knows the plan already & for the near future I think one casualty of that move could be Joshua vs Wilder not happening as soon as most of us wanna see it.

[Butch.McRae]

Has Showtime showed 5 of his fights? Is that Whyte to Klitschko or Walk the Earth Like A God to Pulev? Damn didn't realize they done so many of his fights.

But I think Hearn in bed with HBO & this matching rights deal coming to a close with this fight or the next one, maybe from the sounds of this article, I think they are gonna be on the losing end of the Joshua road to riches.

In fact now that I think of it him downplaying the Wilder fight & fighting Wilder in general might be him steering away to HBO right there cuz surely if Hearn is planning on bringing Joshua over to HBO Joshua knows the plan already & for the near future I think one casualty of that move could be Joshua vs Wilder not happening as soon as most of us wanna see it.

It's becoming abundantly clear that this is their plan. Joshua won't even mention Wilder unless pushed by the interviewer. It's a b*tch move but the game is the game I suppose. Joshua has a guaranteed $10 million whenever he fights in the UK and everybody bending over to get a shot. Wilder doesn't have much leverage. He'll probably end up fighting over in the UK whenever he gets his chance.

[Scipio2009]

Has Showtime showed 5 of his fights? Is that Whyte to Klitschko or Walk the Earth Like A God to Pulev? Damn didn't realize they done so many of his fights.

But I think Hearn in bed with HBO & this matching rights deal coming to a close with this fight or the next one, maybe from the sounds of this article, I think they are gonna be on the losing end of the Joshua road to riches.

In fact now that I think of it him downplaying the Wilder fight & fighting Wilder in general might be him steering away to HBO right there cuz surely if Hearn is planning on bringing Joshua over to HBO Joshua knows the plan already & for the near future I think one casualty of that move could be Joshua vs Wilder not happening as soon as most of us wanna see it.

The only heavyweight fights that are anywhere near PPV in the US would be Joshua-Klitschko 2 and Wilder-Joshua.

With Joshua basically being a $10m fighter in the UK now, is HBO going to earnestly be happy with paying $8m a year for the rights to 3 UK/Europe matinee events (or, more boldly, try to market Joshua-Parker, Joshua-Miller, or whatever fights that they can get with the folks they have access to, as PPV events)?

Because, imo, a Joshua-Wilder series of fights (there'll be at least two fights) pays off the over two years of work to build Joshua's profile in the US (and likely leaves you with two PPV attractions after the fights in a trilogy).

Maybe this is me beating a dead horse, but the Hearn/HBO connection is being oversold; Hearn's first priority is still to Sky Sports and the UK, he wanted to dabble in a new market, was able to sign a pretty marquee fighter, and now has said fighter in position for a chance at arguably the three biggest money fights that can be made at the weight (Alvarez and the Golovkin rematch are both PPV fights, and Jacobs-Saunders or Jacobs-Lemieux are also big fights that may not merit PPV).