Joshua-Klitschko to be televised by HBO and Showtime

Boxingnews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: This months’ fight between IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko will be shown on both HBO Championship Boxing and on Showtime in the U.S on April 29. The Jacobs-Klitschko fight will be taking place at the 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium in London, England.

Klitschko was a world champion at heavyweight for 10 years until losing to Tyson Fury two years ago in 2015. That was the last time that Klitschko fought. He spent a year trying to get a rematch with Fury, but two fights against him fell through for various reasons. Wladimir is now coming off of a loss and a 2-year layoff to fight Joshua. That’s not good news. Some fans have likely forgotten about Klitschko. Many of the fans that did see Wladimir lose to Fury in 2015 think the Ukrainian fighter is over-the-hill. He sure looked it against Fury.

According to Rafael, HBO isn’t paying as much for the fight because of them showing it on tape delay. However, given the time that HBO is showing the fight during primetime, you can argue that they’re getting a better deal. Fans in the U.S are accustomed to watching boxing events in the evening rather than the afternoon. As such, there might not be a lot of fans that tune to see the Joshua-Klitschko fight live on Showtime. Even if they advertise the fight to the hilt, I’m not sure that a lot of fans will be around in the afternoon to see the fight on the day of the fight.

Showtime could have advantage over HBO if they send out a press release immediately after the Joshua-Klitschko fight to the boxing websites letting them know of the results. By the time HBO’s broadcast starts in the evening, the fans will have already known about the fight results for the Joshua-Klitschko fight.

The fight will be televised in the UK on Sky Box Office pay-per-view. In the States, HBO and Showtime have agreed to a $3 million deal with Joshua’s promoters at Matchroom Sport to show the fight in the U.S, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Showtime will televise the Joshua-Klitschko fight live in the afternoon on Saturday, April 29, while HBO sill show the fight by tape delay in the evening hours during the primetime. Showtime already had Joshua under contract to have his fights televised in the U.S. In the past, Klitschko had some of his fights shown on HBO. His 2014 fight against Bryant Jennings was televised on HBO.

HBO and Showtime are still working on the contract for the fight, according to Rafael. There’s not much time left before the Joshua vs. Klitschko fight takes place on April 29, so they’re going to need to finish the negotiations soon. The fight won’t be announced in the U.S until the contract negotiations are done for the Joshua-Klitschko fight.

What’s interesting about this situation is HBO and Showtime will have their broadcast team life in London to report at ringside rather than them sitting in the U.S in a booth to talk about the action. This always makes it more appealing when the commentators are the venue where the fight is taking place.

The negotiations were supposed to have been completed already but they’ve dragged on. HBO and Showtime have to decide how they will officially reveal the Joshua-Klitschko fight for their networks. It’s kind of a tricky situation because one network could get an advantage if they can announce the fight first. It’s debatable how much interest there will be from the casual boxing fans in a Joshua vs. Klitschko fight in the States. The casual fans don’t know who Joshua is, and Klitschko hasn’t done much in the States in many years. He’s not had a lot of his fights shown over there.

When Klitschko would have his fights shown in the states, they weren’t always exciting. At this point, Klitschko and Joshua are probably only known by the hardcore boxing fans in the U.S. The ratings for the fight will likely be good, but not to the level that we see for guys like Saul Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin. It would be surprising if the Joshua-Klitschko fight does the same kind of ratings of Canelo and Golovkin’s fights. It could be much do over nothing with HBO and Showtime working hard to get the Joshua-Klitschko fight on thire networks.

“We’re not going to comment on any ongoing negotiations,” Showtime spokesman Chris DeBlasio said to ESPN.com.

HBO and Showtime could be working hard for nothing in negotiationing to show the Joshua-Klitschko fight. If the fight turns out to be a dud or a one-sided mismatch, then I think it could upset the boxing fans that tune in. Moreover, it might not attract many eyeballs to want to watch the fight. How do you get excited at seeing Joshua fight the 41-year-old Klitschko, who lost his last fight BADLY to Tyson Fury and who hasn’t fought in 2 years.

Joshua vs. Klitschko will be televised in Germany on RTL. Klitschko has become a big name in Germany after starting his career out in that country.

Joshua’s promote Eddie Hearn wants to turn him into a star in the U.S. with the goal of one day transforming him into a PPV attraction like Lennox Lewis. With Joshua being matched against guys like Eric Molina, Dominic Breazeale and now Klitschko, it may not be possible. Joshua needs to fight popular guys, and Hearn hasn’t been doing that. Even Klitschko isn’t really popular in the U.S. The hardcore boxing fans know of Klitschko, and many of them see him as a shot fighter that is looking for a final payday against Joshua.

You can count on the hardcore fans taking the time out of their lives to watch the Joshua-Klitschko fight in the U.S, but probably the casual fans. If there’s anything remotely interesting to watch on other channels in the same evening, my guess is the eyeballs will be on those channels. Joshua has a LONG ways to go before he becomes a star in the U.S, and I don’t know if he ever will, given the way that Hearn is matching him.

Instead of Joshua fighting David Haye, we’re seeing him fight Eric Molina. You can expect Hearn to match Joshua against Tony Bellew in the near future. That’s another fight that won’t register in the U.S. The casual fans don’t have clue one who Bellew is in the U.S.