Anthony Joshua not the big name we are led to believe

[tobyh5]

Now this is an odd one as the numbers do not lie and he did sell a few hundred thousand PPV in his last fight and the stadiums are not only full but sold out fast when AJ is on the bill but I have found that people look at me with a blank face when I mention his name.

Last week a good friend of mine who owns a very reputable and quality supplement company signed AJ to a sponsorship deal which I had no idea he was working on and it stunned me. I sent a few messages to mates about it and they did not even know who Joshua is. So I have been telling a few people with a, "ya know my mate Steve, he has just signed AJ to a deal and are sponsoring him" and nearly no one has known who he is. This includes a bunch of lads at a local football match today and some mates who were training at the gym on Friday (out of 5 there, two knew AJ). I have a picture of my mate and his partner with AJ in the gym and so far not one person has been able to name him

Is boxing really this small now?

[Mimmy]

a mate said to me that Arenal have a chance of winning the league this year. I said to him, i didnt know owt about football, and was George Graham still their manager. He laughed and said, no its Arsène Wenger.Ive never heard of him, guess ill stick to boxing as I know names there.

[Boxerbeetle]

I'm surprised by that. Boxing is obviously not a mainstream sport anymore, but all the casuals I talk to absolutely love Joshua and think he's the second coming of Tyson (Mike, not Fury obviously).

[BitPlayer]

Eh, very good.

Seriously though I don't see why anyone would put much weight on this anecdote, I mean at the very least you culd show us some evidence of these ads if you want to make a point. Honestly I thought he'd be raking too much in to be doing what sounds like a pretty small promotion, not to mention being getting ready to fight Charles Martin.

[mickey1975]

Id say AJ is big news.

[the_doctor]

I do like how you mention the massive PPV numbers and sold out arenas then push it all to one side because of a few blokes at the football

[tobyh5]

mean at the very least you culd show us some evidence of these ads if you want to make a point. Honestly I thought he'd be raking too much in to be doing what sounds like a pretty small promotion, not to mention being getting ready to fight Charles Martin.

It is on AJ's Facebook, linking up with EQ Nutrition, they are a great supplement brand with strong ethics

I do like how you mention the massive PPV numbers and sold out arenas then push it all to one side because of a few blokes at the football

Fair point and it is not a scientific study that I conducted in a lab and with 5,000 people taken from strategic demographics but I am just saying I was literally shocked with the amount of blank faces when I said his name.

Saddens me to feel and see our sport being on the wane

[BitPlayer]

mean at the very least you culd show us some evidence of these ads if you want to make a point. Honestly I thought he'd be raking too much in to be doing what sounds like a pretty small promotion, not to mention being getting ready to fight Charles Martin.

It is on AJ's Facebook, linking up with EQ Nutrition, they are a great supplement brand with strong ethics

Fair enough, I checked it and it looks like it's true. It just looked dubious when you wouldn't say who.

[tobyh5]

mean at the very least you culd show us some evidence of these ads if you want to make a point. Honestly I thought he'd be raking too much in to be doing what sounds like a pretty small promotion, not to mention being getting ready to fight Charles Martin.

It is on AJ's Facebook, linking up with EQ Nutrition, they are a great supplement brand with strong ethics

Fair enough, I checked it and it looks like it's true. It just looked dubious when you wouldn't say who.

Sorry fella, was not deliberate, just didn't see the need to advertise it as not sure of forum rules.

[BitPlayer]

It is on AJ's Facebook, linking up with EQ Nutrition, they are a great supplement brand with strong ethics

Fair enough, I checked it and it looks like it's true. It just looked dubious when you wouldn't say who.

Sorry fella, was not deliberate, just didn't see the need to advertise it as not sure of forum rules.

Nah it's cool. That's a pretty valid reason.

[gilgamesh]

Hell here where I live it would probably be less than 1 out of 50 people I could talk to that know sh*t about Boxing. Nobody here would know who Joshua is. They probably wouldn't know who Tyson Fury is either.

[Loftgroov]

I see the original poster's point.

There is not ONE person at my work (big company) or wider family who would appear to know who Anthony Joshua is.

This is what we sometimes forget. Big fish... small ponds.

[rd350lc]

When a certain satellite company began broadcasting it was the deathnail to sports " stars" becoming household names .

[mickey1975]

When a certain satellite company began broadcasting it was the deathnail to sports " stars" becoming household names .

Like Ricky Hatton and David Beckham?

[Taansend]

When a certain satellite company began broadcasting it was the deathnail to sports " stars" becoming household names .

That coupled with 17 or so weights & 5 or more 'champions' at each weight.

[stevedoc]

Even Floyd wasn't that well known compared to say the fab four or Tyson yet he got 200 million in his last year , Bruno for instance was a much bigger name/star than AJ is yet but he could well cross over with a couple of appearance's on graham Norton

[rd350lc]

When a certain satellite company began broadcasting it was the deathnail to sports " stars" becoming household names .

Like Ricky Hatton and David Beckham?

I grant you David Beckham because he courted publicity and loves being a media whore , don't know if too many non boxing fans would know who Ricky Hatton is though.

[rd350lc]

Even Floyd wasn't that well known compared to say the fab four or Tyson yet he got 200 million in his last year , Bruno for instance was a much bigger name/star than AJ is yet but he could well cross over with a couple of appearance's on graham Norton

I think the fact that none of AJ's fights will ever be screened on free to air national tv means he will never be a household name . I'm sure he has no concernes in that area tho' and can do just fine racking up ppv's

[mickey1975]

When a certain satellite company began broadcasting it was the deathnail to sports " stars" becoming household names .

Like Ricky Hatton and David Beckham?

I grant you David Beckham because he courted publicity and loves being a media whore , don't know if too many non boxing fans would know who Ricky Hatton is though.

I must mix in different circles to you. Everybody knows Ricky. He was a true crossover star built exclusively on Sky.

[Tarkus]

Now this is an odd one as the numbers do not lie and he did sell a few hundred thousand PPV in his last fight and the stadiums are not only full but sold out fast when AJ is on the bill but I have found that people look at me with a blank face when I mention his name.

Last week a good friend of mine who owns a very reputable and quality supplement company signed AJ to a sponsorship deal which I had no idea he was working on and it stunned me. I sent a few messages to mates about it and they did not even know who Joshua is. So I have been telling a few people with a, "ya know my mate Steve, he has just signed AJ to a deal and are sponsoring him" and nearly no one has known who he is. This includes a bunch of lads at a local football match today and some mates who were training at the gym on Friday (out of 5 there, two knew AJ). I have a picture of my mate and his partner with AJ in the gym and so far not one person has been able to name him

Is boxing really this small now?

I bet none of those your mates heard a name of any other boxer either, apart from perhaps Pacquiao, Maywhether and Klitschko. Which once again shows what we already knew, that boxing is a niche sport with following among the only small proportion of the population.

[Tarkus]

Hell here where I live it would probably be less than 1 out of 50 people I could talk to that know sh*t about Boxing. Nobody here would know who Joshua is. They probably wouldn't know who Tyson Fury is either.

Pretty accurate I suppose. Eddie Hearn in a recent interview said that there are 1.5 million people watching boxing the UK. That make is it roughly 1/50.

[Ricky_]

Now this is an odd one as the numbers do not lie and he did sell a few hundred thousand PPV in his last fight

Source?

[mickey1975]

Apart from football, what isn't a niche sport? I honestly couldn't tell you any cricketers and I doubt anyone I know could name many, my friends wouldn't dream of watching RU but could tell you all about RL, is MVG a household name? No, more people know Eric Bristow... The 20-40 male Sky subscribers know the score and that's all that matters. Who cares if someone in the local pub doesn't know AJ? He's not paying £16.95 anyway, or buying a supplement, or buying from StubHub, etc

[TheGman]

When a certain satellite company began broadcasting it was the deathnail to sports " stars" becoming household names .

Even if a certain satellite company never started we would have the likes of bbc 1,2,3 and 4 itv 1,2,3 and be so it would still be hard to be a household name in boxing now compare to 1980 when there was only 4 tv channels

[Tarkus]

Apart from football, what isn't a niche sport? I honestly couldn't tell you any cricketers and I doubt anyone I know could name many, my friends wouldn't dream of watching RU but could tell you all about RL, is MVG a household name? No, more people know Eric Bristow... The 20-40 male Sky subscribers know the score and that's all that matters. Who cares if someone in the local pub doesn't know AJ? He's not paying £16.95 anyway, or buying a supplement, or buying from StubHub, etc

In the UK I am not sure but I guess Tennis, F1, Cricket and Rugby would qualify as mainstream. Then you have Olympics that is watched by lot of people. Not everyone knows these sports but amount of people systematically watching RU for example dwarfs amount of people watching boxing.

Joshua can become crossover star and a household name if he keeps winning, he is not there yet. But he is unquestionably a big name with boxing crowds.