Sky Sports Box Office lost the war in June to sport streaming network DAZN in securing British heavyweight superstar Anthony Joshua’s future fights, but the British broadcasting company won back a small battle on Thursday to air Joshua’s rematch with unified IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight titlist Oleksandr Usyk with a winning $28 million deal.

Numerous British publications reported that Sky Sports Box Office has outbid DAZN for the Usyk-Joshua August 20th rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

This comes as a surprise, since DAZN recently signed Joshua in mid-June to a five-year, 10-fight deal that could potentially be worth $100 million.

With Saudi Arabia holding the global television rights, which the Saudi government paying a reported $98 million to host the fight, they were able to put the broadcast rights to the fight up for bidding.

For nine years, Eddie Hearn’s promotional company Matchroom called Sky its broadcast home. Who knows what this could mean moving forward, especially if Joshua (24-2, 22 knockouts) losses again to the slick, 35-year-old Ukrainian southpaw. Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) thoroughly dominated Joshua the first time they met, on September 25, 2021, in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in Tottenham, England.

This time, Usyk and Joshua can earn a potential $50 million each from globally for the pay-per-view rematch.

The rematch is a crossroads fight for Joshua, who is 2-2 over his last four fights. Joshua lost all three titles to Andy Ruiz Jr. in 2019, before taking them back later in 2019 in a rematch in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter who has been working for Ring Magazine/RingTV.com since October 1997 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on twitter @JSantoliquito.

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