DAZN has acquired the exclusive broadcast rights to the world heavyweight title clash between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk across 170 countries and territories.
The deal clinched by the subscription streaming platform includes jurisdictions in North America, South America and Oceania, in addition to countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
However, the media rights contract excludes the UK, France, Ireland and the Netherlands in Europe, whilst the Middle East and North Africa regions, along with China and Israel, are also not included.
Ed Breeze, Executive Vice-President of Rights at DAZN, remarked: “We’re thrilled to continue our strong relationship with Matchroom, Anthony Joshua and his team at 258MGT as the global home of boxing.
“This fight will be an all-out heavyweight battle between two of the best in the division, live from a remarkable stadium in front of a full house of avid fans.”
The fight between Watford-born IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO champion ‘AJ’ Joshua and unbeaten former undisputed cruiserweight title holder Usyk will take place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London.
In the UK and Ireland, Sky Sports holds the rights to the world championship bout due to a caveat in the recent agreement between DAZN and Matchroom Boxing, which gave the streaming service permission to broadcast fights involving all of the promotion’s fighters with the exception of Anthony Joshua.
Lauded as a ‘game changing’ agreement, the contract between Matchroom and DAZN was signed in June and became effective in July, permitting the latter to provide coverage of 16 Uk fights annually to British and Irish subscribers.
The deal built on a pre-existing agreement between DAZN and Matchroom covering the US, Italy and Spain, and the duo plan on initiating ‘significant’ investment in other key markets.
Sky, meanwhile, has also moved to maintain its boxing coverage after the termination of its own-six year contract with Matchroom earlier this year, securing deals with the Top Rank and Boxxer promotions to broadcast at least 18 international fight nights, amounting to almost 100 hours of boxing.
