Boxing is a sport. But it is as much, if not more, a business. Where the big bucks are, the fights go. That was no more in evidence than late last year when Tyson Fury fought American Deontay Wilder in a thrilling draw in Los Angeles .
A star was born there. Fury is 6ft 9in, funny, proud of his traveller roots and a curiosity to Americans. After suffering with mental-health issues, he offered a redemption story, too.
Standing similarly imperious, and preparing to make his United States debut on June 1, is Anthony Joshua, the charismatic Briton with three world title belts. Marketing men are walking Joshua towards huge American exposure with the promise that he will become aglobal sports star.
For the past two years, the UK has been the place to fight amid revived interest in boxing, with fans flocking to events, and an increased number of boxers enjoying mainstream popularity. It has happened for a number of reasons: strong heavyweights, a few good grudge fights and an abundance of talent and renewed vigour from broadcasters who see the value of live fight nights and their drama.
But the United States has quickly become the epicentre of boxing again with the deals Joshua and Fury have struck with American broadcasters. Joshua sells out stadiums. The US wants that. Fury is one of the great characters in the fight-sports world. That is marketable.
When Fury signed a Stateside deal with ESPN worth $100,000,000 eight weeks ago and Joshua inked a similar financial arrangement with rival broadcaster DAZN, battle lines were drawn.
A multi-sport streaming platform which airs in the US, DAZN is vowing to transform the landscape of sports consumption in the ‘mobile’ era yet, in rival ESPN, faces a behemoth with digital and televisual clout. DAZN’s strategy is to create a paradigm shift in the way sport is consumed in the US. It has secured deals with Joshua, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin for huge sums.
There has been a fair bit of griping in the UK boxing industry, and its fans, that Sky’s boxingcards have weakened with Matchroom Sport’s deal with DAZN – one billion US dollars over eight years – but the exodus across the Pond was really just a matter of time.
Last week, Anthony Crolla was defeated by one of boxing’s stars in Vasyl Lomachenko. On Saturday night, Amir Khan fights Terence Crawford here in New York a decade after the Briton made his debut in the US. Both the Nebraskan Crawford and Lomachenko, the Ukrainian double Olympic champion, are three-weight world champions and in the sport’s top-five pound-for-pound. They were always going to fight in the United States. The hourglass has been turned upside down.
Octogenarian promoter Bob Arum, who has used every trick in the book in selling the fights of Muhammad Ali, Marvin Hagler and Manny Pacquiao in six decades of the sport, told me that everybody was “astounded” with the boxing boom in the UK, with tremendous crowds, robust pay-per-view and wide interest.
“But it doesn’t address the problem,” Arum said. “The UK might have the highest per-capita interest in boxing, but here in the United States you can get two million homes or more paying $70.”
Boxing is a business, and the big bucks are here in the USA.