Despite being a two-time unified heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua cannot justify the Pay Per View price inflicted on his British fans.
In a move that has since polarized the UK boxing fraternity, AJ’s rematch with Dillian Whyte launches on Monday at an eye-watering price of $35.
The price tag is close to the most ever charged by a PPV network on British soil despite the two main headliners suffering four losses in their last seven bouts.
Anthony Joshua form
Joshua has a record of 25-3, 22 KOs) but is no longer considered a major force in the sport. His opponent, former WBC title challenger Whyte, is 29-3, 19 KOs.
Whyte got starched by Tyson Fury and Alexander Povetkin in two massive knockouts. They were both clashes that didn’t make it past the halfway stage.
However, they lock horns again nearly eight years after their battle at the same arena in the O2. It’s a far cry from the pair campaigning at Wembley Stadium and another sign that $35 is too much for UK fans to pay in a cost-of-living crisis.
The only difference this time around is that there is no clear favorite. Both are in poor form as Joshua looks to add to his huge seventh-round stoppage in 2015.
Brixton’s Whyte has a long-running rivalry with Joshua, having beaten the Watford man on points as an amateur in 2009. Joshua then won an Olympic gold medal in London 2012, which kick-started his meteoric rise to global stardom, although it had nothing to do with Whyte.
Unified
‘AJ’ went on to unify the heavyweight division. He won the WBA, IBF, and WBO crowns against some of the weakest heavyweights available. Joshua became one of the biggest stars in British boxing with a combination of marketing and knock-over opponents.
His unimpressive wins were against Charles Martin, Joseph Parker, Alexander Povetkin, and Kubrat Pulev.
The two most standouts, Wladimir Klitschko and Mexican Andy Ruiz Jr., were both tainted. Klitschko was old, semi-retired, and past it. Despite those facts, he almost knocked Joshua out in six.
Ruiz did knock Joshua out but then put a massive amount of weight and didn’t train for the rematch Joshua tentatively won in Saudi Arabia.
The 33-year-old returned to outpoint Jermaine Franklin at The O2 earlier this year in an affair that was nothing to write home about.
Dominated
He returned to winning ways under new trainer Derrick James following back-to-back defeats to Ukrainian pound-for-pound great Oleksandr Usyk in 2021 and 2022.
Usyk not only beat Joshua, he dominated him. The Ukrainian master proved that Joshua is not a top heavyweight and maybe never was. The carefully managed job of the easiest opponents on offer and home advantage worked to give Joshua his name, only in the UK.
The majority of people around the world who knew anything about the sport knew that Joshua was never as good as he was built up to be. It proved to be his downfall – and a hard one.
Whyte’s last win came via a points decision against the USA’s Franklin last year. It was controversial and a robbery for Franklin to digest.
Whyte also fell short in his record-breaking WBC title fight against undefeated WBC ruler Tyson Fury at Wembley Stadium in April 2022.
He succumbed to a sixth-round TKO loss in a drab fight.
Whyte
The Jamaican-born warrior, 36, aspires to fight for another world title, if not the ability. He knows a win over his old foe Joshua next month will put him in a prime position for another mega-fight against one of the division’s other glamour names later this year.
That’s the whole point of pitting the two together, as one of the also-rans is guaranteed a bigger money fight. But there is no justification for the PPV price whatsoever.
The PPV will cost £26.99 via DAZN.com only in the UK and Ireland. Nowhere else in the world would even think about paying that much for an Anthony Joshua fight.
The views expressed in this article are the opinions of experienced boxing writer Phil Jay. Twitter @PhilJWBN. Follow WBN: Facebook, Insta, Twitter.
