Anthony Joshua stopped Wladimir Klitschko to unify several Heavyweight belt before 90,000 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Joshua’s ascent to boxing superstar should help a sport in continued search of the next big star.
Saturday’s fight aired in the United States on Showtime (live) and HBO (same-day tape). It was just the third time that both networks aired the same fight.
The Sports Business Journal recently pegged Joshua as one of the rising stars for the sport. Certainly, sponsors have recognized Joshua. The former 2012 gold medalist had 13 sponsors going into his fight with Klitschko. This included Jaguar, Under Armour and Beats By Dre.
One of the big questions is whether Joshua’s popularity in the UK translates to US popularity. Thus far, Deontay Wilder’s popularity is gaining but with fights in his home state of Alabama, there must be concern that he could not carry an event in Las Vegas let alone a PPV anywhere.
It is expected that Joshua’s popularity becomes PPV success. Undoubtedly, 90,000 at Wembley is amazing, but his promotion and his broadcast partners will be looking toward potential PPV success in the U.S.
This fight was a FOTY contender in a boxing year full of them. I think Joshua puts Wilder away faster than he did Klitschko.
Global fight….90k watching live…they delivered! Good for boxing as floyd would feel he is no longer the center of attention so he and pacman would go for a rematch
Man what a fight. Went into thinking it may be filled with clinches but these guys came to scrap. Gave the fans a show and that place was rocking. Next week another Huge one for the sport. Haven’t seen this many good fights in such a short time in a while.
Tops, keep dreamin’, Mayweather’s coming out of retirement for one fight and one fight only- Conor McGregor. Hahaha. That’s the only big ppv fight left in boxing.
I doubt this translates into success in the US market. If Joshua couldn’t even draw a ppv fight against Klitschko- a much bigger name than anyone else in hw boxing, how is he going to do US ppv numbers with guys like Wilder(someone who has had to take fights in Europe because he can’t generate big revenue in the US)?
The UK market is a fraction of what the North American market is. This actually sounds like one of the few times in boxing recently a fight lived up to expectation, but that doesn’t equate to big money here. Fight fans have grown weary of big boxing matches not living up to expectation, political nonsense with worthless titles, fighter dodging and a superior product on the market in mma.
TRIGGERED!!!!! lol
Jess, TOPS E, Fight Fan….even the mma pages and groups are all about yesterday’s fight….in law enforcement that is called a “clue.” Great fight. Though I think Wilder is a whole different style to a 41 year old Klit who hasnt fought in 18 months and lost in the last ight. Joshua is big and muscular who is probably the strongest heavyweight champion ever but its clear he will tire late lugging all that muscle around. I think a younger Wlad would have knocked him out. And let us not forget that Tyson Fury PLAYED with Wlad and limited him to 52 punches in 12 rounds…I think an in shape Fury outboxes Joshua based on what I saw….and I think Wilder dances avoids him for several rounds, lands a big shot, and goodnight. Wilder against Stiverne showed just how well Wilder can box when he sees his opponent as a threat. Wilder has true one punch power and had he landed against Joshua, goodnight.
And by the way, this fight was HUGE…the biggest ever in the UK. 90,000 fans, sold out in hours, both fighters being paid 8 figures, both Showtime and HBO showing the fight, its expected to break PPV records in the UK, it all speaks for itself. Joshua just became the biggest sports icon in the UK.
Huge for the UK, not the US. It wasn’t even on ppv here. That speaks volumes.
McGregor is still a bigger star in the UK. It really isn’t even close.
I also wouldn’t assume what their payouts were for the fight based on a promoter’s word. They may have made 10m each, but I wouldn’t believe it for a fact unless I saw something disclosed through some sort of sanctioning body that proved with ppv they could hit those marks and someone legit analyzing the ppvs. Boxing promoters are notorious for fabricating purse figures. De La Hoya did the same thing with Canelo as did Arum with one of Pacquaio’s recent fights- until Iole did some research and posted the actual purse figures which turned out to be promoter exaggeration.
AJ said you have to make it in the states to become a global star. He pretty much shitted on the UK.
I don’t know if Joshua can pass a Nevada drug test. I think it’s obvious he is on something.
This fight showed klitsckos talent as a boxer…he got skills….so used seing jab and grab…but this fight he was also was hard to hit,he should have fought like this when he was younger…..
This version is better than the one who fought fury…i think furys mind games affected klitscko… Joshuas will be a star and hw division would be exciting,so now theres welter,heavy and middlewweight having talents
The fight was huge. End of story. Sold out fight that delivered.
Can’t remember the last time a ufc filled an arena with 90 thousand…. Oh wait they haven’t .
Hahaha. Attendance numbers. Laughable. That fight didn’t generate the gate, ppv, sponsorship, or any other measurable statistic that McGregor’s last UFC fight did. As a matter of fact, when discussing total revenue, this boxing match did about what an average UFC did. The UK market is a joke. It was on Showtime and HBO in the US. That’s all you need to know about where it stood. It was a big deal in the UK, not in N. America where the money is at.
The U.K. market is not a joke, ask Ricky Hatton. This fight sold out and wasn’t papered.
Ask Ricky Hatton what? Ask him how much more money he earned fighting Mayweather and Pacquaio in the US than he ever did in the UK.
Who cares if it sold out? Attendance is a sucker number. Revenue is the most important thing. How much revenue did it do? I guarantee you not as much as what a huge boxing or ufc fight does in Vegas.
Fight Fan, let him make it, you know he is triggered by any posts that show big time boxing. The fact that he feels compelled to post the most in boxing articles show he is….TRIGGERED!
Wil posts under every single mma article trashing the UFC and fabricating stats, then when called out on it, he runs away. Hahaha.
“runs away”….its the internet buddy, it’s not the real world…..
Says the guy ranting “TRIGGERED” after every comment. Haha.
By the way gentlemen, looks like both men will make $12.5m flat without options on gate/ppv. Gate and ppv revenue in the UK looks north of $51m.
Anyone claiming there isnt a thriving boxing market in the UK is either a flat out liar with an agenda or just plain incoherent and incapable.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/boxing/2017/04/29/joshua-vs-klitschko-purse-will-fighter-earn-prize-money/
I love it when boxing fanboys source boxing promoters with ZERO evidence to verify, who are completely biased, yet when White makes some ridiculous statement, you guys are so quick to call him out on it. Eddie Hearn’s word is worthless. He is a promoter with an agenda. Plus, even he didn’t say they made that, he said they expected to make that which makes it even more ridiculous.
No way in hell this fight generated anywhere near 50m. That’s absurd. It wasn’t on US ppv, ie, it can’t make that type of revenue. It’s so obvious those are pipe dream delusions. Haha. How could they possibly get anywhere near 50m? When boxing or mma in the US does over 1m ppv buys(at a higher price) with bigger gates, sponsorship, tv deals, etc, they don’t generate that revenue. The ppv providers take a split of the buys and the UK market can’t draw anywhere near what the US/Canada can. The money isn’t there.
Boxing fans are so gullible.
TRIGGERED!
Joshua is a big star in the U.K. And making a killing money wise . Thankfully boxing is a worldwide sport where it doesn’t depend on just one country to make millions or be a metric for success .
If they decide to venture into the US market , there is room for him to be a star . Various sources are citing 1.6 million ppv buys, that will be another UK record for a combat sport , if it holds up .
It’s clear Joshua is the biggest combat sports star in the U.K. And rightfully so, great work from Eddie Hearn in getting him to the top spot . My only concern is he is very green and needs more time to mature .
The fight was huge d, just go home lol. Boxing holds the records for Attendence, PPV sales, Live Gate. Nothing UFC has ever done or has on the horizon is gonna top that.
Yeah, in South-east asia Boxing is huge and china also.
YES
“If they decide to venture into the US market , there is room for him to be a star .’
They have tried. They couldn’t sell him on US/Canada ppv.
” Various sources are citing 1.6 million ppv buys, that will be another UK record for a combat sport , if it holds up .”
Various sources in this case are the fight promoter…Eddie Hearn.
“It’s clear Joshua is the biggest combat sports star in the U.K”
Boxing fans are trying hard to sell this, when in reality, McGregor is clearly the biggest in the UK, and globally.
How many aliases do you have? 30?
Hahahaha. Fight Fan still bringing up a boxing match from 2 years ago. He’s going to be talking about this for years while ignoring mma has sold more ppv buys, and overall revenue for all but 1 year out of the last decade. They hold the annual record for every major category.
The fight did well, but it was not huge compared to US fights. Skytv ppv doesn’t hold a candle to US/Canada ppv.
All I know is this, I witnessed a great production and fight Saturday! AJ gave one of the best post fight victory speeches ever, total class! If he can get a good marketing machine behind him, he could do well in the US, just may take some time and patience!
Joshua,fury,wilder,parker,bellew,haye,ortiz
Ggg,canelo,charlo bros,jacobs
May-pac,thurman,spence,khan,garcia,brook,bradley
Mickey grcia,crawford
Stacked
Joshua is the biggest thing in combat sports easily. And all but the trigger s troll on here can see that this was a massive global event
What is Trigger babbling about?
Conor isn’t big in the UK as Joshua is.
The last two weeks Joshua as been front page news over there.
And now hes even bigger.
TopsE boxing at the moment is very stacked!! You got that right !!
Caramel City , only non U.K. People would claim that .
Conor is the biggest combat sports athlete in the US
Joshua in the U.K. , Canelo in Mexico
Worldwide looks to be Joshua getting that momentum over 10 million in Germany alone watched that amazing fight
Joshua vs Wilder or Fury will be another massive fight. All I can say folks is that we got some good fights ahead of us. Let’s not forget Brook Vs Spence is sold out as well and looks to be a scrap.
“Joshua is the biggest thing in combat sports easily”
Who can’t sell even 1 ppv in the US. Hahaha. This is how delusional boxing fans are and how they are “TRIGGERED” the second someone points out reality to them.
D forgets that boxing doesn’t live and die by the ppv
Fight Fan doesn’t realize it does in fact live and die by the ppv, which is why De La Hoya said boxing had its worst year ever last year. Haha.
One day d says don’t believe anything de la Hoya says, the next day he’s quoting him lol. Go figure. Boxing holds all records and is about to smash some more this weekend.
Hahaha. Yeah, he’s lying about his business being at an all time low. That makes sense. He would have no incentive to lie about it, not to mention, it’s obvious boxing ppv in the US has been dead for 2 years now- which drives the sport.
Didn’t realize but Forbes is predicting Joshua to be the first billionaire in combat sports . That would be an incredible feat .
Showtime saying once AJ and Eddie Hearn decide to venture into the US market he already has daytime and nighttime interviews with major media outlets
If he keeps winning he could be the next Ali in terms of worldwide appeal .
Already broke ppv record , attendance record , he is moving fast
Crazy thing is that even though the fight was a massive financial success, the biggest accomplishment may be the fact that it was an action packed fight. This is gonna lead to a huge next fight for AJ.
Hahahahahahahaha. Billionaire in what? Monopoly money? How are you getting to a billion dollars when you don’t even make 10m per fight and you can barely been aging has beens? If he fought on US ppv, he wouldn’t even break 200k buys.