ANTHONY JOSHUA’S heavyweight showdown with Tyson Fury will be available on pay-per-view with Sky Sports AND BT Sport, according to Bob Arum.
It would be the first time a PPV boxing fight can be watched on either channel in the UK.
Fury’s American co-promoter Arum revealed the news – and added ESPN will get the rights in America, not DAZN who have aired Joshua’s last four fights.
The Top Rank chief told Boxing Scene: “You will be able to buy it on BT or buy it on Sky, it can’t be exclusive to either.
“Obviously, the big market is the UK, where everyone is talking it will do three million homes.”
However, SunSport understands Arum’s comments regarding BT Sport’s guaranteed involvement are premature.
No concrete decisions will be made on broadcast deals until the date and venue are confirmed.
It is unclear how much fans will have to pay to get access for the fight with details yet to be finalised.
Joshua has his own deal with Sky whereas WBC king Fury’s contract is with rivals BT.
This broadcasting deadlock threatened to scupper the unification heavyweight bout.
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But Arum’s comments suggest British boxing fans will now get their choice of presenters and pundits for the mammoth Battle of Britain.
Eddie Hearn, promoter for the WBA, WBO and IBF champ AJ, revealed how the negotiations developed for both broadcasters to show the fight.
He said: “It is quite easy because the worst case scenario is everyone shares it and everyone will do that anyway. But we need to maximise the revenue for the fighters.
“In the UK, AJ has an exclusive deal with Sky, Fury has matching price deal with BT, in America Fury has an exclusive deal with ESPN and AJ has a matching deal with DAZN.
“I can’t talk on behalf of Sky but Sky will feel probably quite comfortable that they will get the majority of buys in that instance.
“If it means them getting the fight, I can’t see any obstacles. There is no one saying no, everyone is saying we need to get this done.”
Asked about his client’s contract ending with Sky Sports, Hearn added: “There are extensions on that, ongoing discussions as well, and there will be some interesting news on that soon about a new partnership with us but that has got a little bit longer.
“Obviously with the force majeure and the delay in fights it puts it back but he has one fight left with Sky.
“Hopefully his two fights with Fury which are due to take place this year, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t be on Sky regardless of what we are doing anyway.”
The first part of AJ and Fury’s two-fight deal is expected to take place indoors in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on July 24.
A rematch is then expected to be staged in the UK later in 2021.
Joshua’s Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn said: “We all know now that both sides have signed the contract, they have both accepted one specific proposal and we are finalising that with contracts going backwards and forwards and tiny, tiny points getting ironed out.
“We haven’t finalised an exact date, July 24 is the rough date but it may leak into early August but no later than that. The Olympics will be a different timezone so it’s not really in the mindset.
“It will be peak time UK, middle of the night in Tokyo, there will not be a TV clash.
“There is going to be a crowd, indoors obviously, so up to 20,000.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
