Oleksandr Usyk vs. Anthony Joshua II | Sky Sports PPV - 20 August 2022

[JamesPhilips]

What UK time will this be on? When was the Ruiz Joshua 2 fight on…8 pm as I remember?

[coneye]

Andy Clarke did an interview with Seconds Out yesterday. He said that he’d heard the Saudis weren’t best pleased that a couple of days before the official announcement of the fight AJ announced his deal with DAZN. They’ve bought the rights and are free to do what they want with them but their preferred broadcast partner was Sky which it’s unlikely Sky will want the fight on a one off basis now.

Sky can still get the fight tho.

They can but would they want it given it’s a one off and he’ll likely be on DAZN thereafter?

They’d certainly not be wanting to pay the same amount.

You read things like this , and then i've read how AJ is definetly in charge of his own destiny he rules his little empire , and i can't help but think is this contributing to his losses , he's now more buisness man than boxer , too many things on his plate .

[tony1234]

Be funny if SKY don't want the rights and they have to scratch around for someone to put it on TV. Money is getting tighter by the month and maybe the PPV will bomb ?

[maverick23]

Sky can still get the fight tho.

They can but would they want it given it’s a one off and he’ll likely be on DAZN thereafter?

They’d certainly not be wanting to pay the same amount.

You read things like this , and then i've read how AJ is definetly in charge of his own destiny he rules his little empire , and i can't help but think is this contributing to his losses , he's now more buisness man than boxer , too many things on his plate .

His management team should be dealing with it all but AJ seems to want to get involved with it all. Also has a lot of commercial deals which all take take up time, energy and focus.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Andy Clarke did an interview with Seconds Out yesterday. He said that he’d heard the Saudis weren’t best pleased that a couple of days before the official announcement of the fight AJ announced his deal with DAZN. They’ve bought the rights and are free to do what they want with them but their preferred broadcast partner was Sky which it’s unlikely Sky will want the fight on a one off basis now.

Sky can still get the fight tho.

They can but would they want it given it’s a one off and he’ll likely be on DAZN thereafter?

They’d certainly not be wanting to pay the same amount.

Maybe not.

But one last pay day through AJ.

The Ruiz-AJ rematch did big numbers and was the first to be listed £24.95.

If AJ loses then it’s DAZN that have to rebuild him.

If he wins then fair enough, Sky can say they had a good run with AJ.

[Ruthless-RKO]

What UK time will this be on? When was the Ruiz Joshua 2 fight on…8 pm as I remember?

Saudi is currently 2 hours ahead..

Would be like 9pm maybe.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Half 2

[JamesPhilips]

What UK time will this be on? When was the Ruiz Joshua 2 fight on…8 pm as I remember?

Saudi is currently 2 hours ahead..

Would be like 9pm maybe.

Thanks. Reasonable time for the big fight

[Ruthless-RKO]

DAZN are broadcasting the press conference.

It doesn’t mean much I guess, because DAZN are covering a lot of boxing and talk about other promotions.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I like this Usyk look. The OLD Usyk is back.

Much better than being bald like the first bout.

Typical when people bulk up they usually be bald.

[garethhop]

Wtf?

[maverick23]

Wtf?

Yeah. The Saudis must be paying a hell of a lot and I’m not surprised they’d be disappointed seeing AJ do a deal with DAZN. It’d be quite funny if BT got it!

[Ruthless-RKO]

Wtf?

Yeah. The Saudis must be paying a hell of a lot and I’m not surprised they’d be disappointed seeing AJ do a deal with DAZN. It’d be quite funny if BT got it!

Whoever does get it will be slapping it on PPV.

I mean it could still go on DAZN.

[Ruthless-RKO]

AJ had this pose throughout.

[tony1234]

Wtf?

Yeah. The Saudis must be paying a hell of a lot and I’m not surprised they’d be disappointed seeing AJ do a deal with DAZN. It’d be quite funny if BT got it!

Whoever does get it will be slapping it on PPV.

I mean it could still go on DAZN.

Might end up on Mick Hennessey's You Tube channel

[jimmystone]

Saudis must have paid way over the odds for Eddie to sell the TV rights to this.

If they are as keen to 'sportswash' as it seems they should offer the UK rights to the BBC free gratis and see if they bite.

[Spud]

Saudis must have paid way over the odds for Eddie to sell the TV rights to this.

If they are as keen to 'sportswash' as it seems they should offer the UK rights to the BBC free gratis and see if they bite.

I would p*ss myself if Eddie lost the TV rights. But with that said cant see that happening.

[maverick23]

Saudis must have paid way over the odds for Eddie to sell the TV rights to this.

If they are as keen to 'sportswash' as it seems they should offer the UK rights to the BBC free gratis and see if they bite.

I would p*ss myself if Eddie lost the TV rights. But with that said cant see that happening.

He’s already lost the rights to the fight. The Saudis will be weighing financial offers vs publicity.

[jimmystone]

If the Saudis did give the fight to the national broadcaster It would be one of the most watched boxing matches ever. Ali v Frazier got 27.3 million in 1971 on the BBC. Half the nation. Barry McGuigan had a couple in the 18 millions.

[Ruthless-RKO]

If the Saudis did give the fight to the national broadcaster It would be one of the most watched boxing matches ever. Ali v Frazier got 27.3 million in 1971 on the BBC. Half the nation. Barry McGuigan had a couple in the 18 millions.

I’d love that!

Would be huge.

A lot of households would be watching this.

[jimmystone]

The Saudis are genuinely looking for a post oil existence beyond simply investing the national wealth fund in Wall Street and London. They want to build tourism without denigrating their Islamic heritage too much (I'm not sure how you can do that without going against the word of The Prophet PBUH but that's another argument). They won't clone Dubai, they'll put their own spin on it and do it on an even bigger scale. Whilst they won't want your typical Brit turning up looking for two weeks all inclusive for £200, they will want the high rollers, and they will want to build their brand.

Investing in an event like this and then Fury v The Winner (or the Loser, or both) and putting it under as many noses as possible could be a solid investment that is worth more to them than cashing in like an Essex spiv in the moment. It would also be great for boxing and could inspire a few youngsters.

All that said, it will probably end up hidden away somewhere like DAZN and follow a couple of beheadings and a mass stoning of some unfortunate gay dudes.

[fizzjambo]

when tens and tens of millions are on the line even good ppl turn into hypocrites or have double standards. usyk and ruiz fought /are fighting in saudi too, but generally seem decent to me

i don't think aj's a knob, just strikes me at times as being a little simple minded

You’re being too generous. He’s taken the cash and has blood on his hands. It’s not like this is difficult to understand either and one Google search would give him plenty to digest.

Trust me, it’s not Joshua alone. Plenty of them would do the same and to a man they’d be guilty of the same thing. Does it make them terrible people? No. Does it make them money chasing hypocrites? Absolutely

[ThereByTheGrace]

Fury will be praying Joshua wins this one.

[Deserter]

“I swear I thought I was,” Joshua said, when asked if he thought he was winning during the fight. “I thought I was looking like Muhammad Ali in there.

“Throughout the fight I thought I was winning, but at that stage [the 12th round] I kind of knew it was close."

Behind a paywall, but here's a link to the whole article:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/anth ... -3gqx0sfkw

[jimmystone]

“I swear I thought I was,” Joshua said, when asked if he thought he was winning during the fight. “I thought I was looking like Muhammad Ali in there.

“Throughout the fight I thought I was winning, but at that stage [the 12th round] I kind of knew it was close."

Behind a paywall, but here's a link to the whole article:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/anth ... -3gqx0sfkw

He's a delusional fellow. But that his cornermen were shouting "Brilliant AJ" throughout the fight (probably to influence the judges) won't have helped him be objective.