As has generally been expected, Showtime will have the American television rights for the highly anticipated three belt heavyweight unification bout between English megastar Anthony Joshua and Joseph Parker of New Zealand. The fight will take place March 31st in the afternoon US time.
Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs) has worked with Showtime nearly exclusively. His only HBO appearance was a tape delay showing of his bout with divisional legend Wladimir Klitschko that netted him the second title. That only happened because of Klitschko’s longstanding contract with HBO and Showtime still had the live broadcast. Eddie Hearn does seem keen on starting a relationship with HBO going forward and has started doing so with Danny Jacobs, but given that Showtime is also the home of eventual endgame Deontay Wilder and his WBC title, it makes sense to stick around with Joshua.
Of note, top heavyweight contender Alexander Povetkin has been added to the bill against busted former British prospect David Price. The Russian is Joshua’s mandatory challenger so it makes sense to highlight him to the local English audience to further sell the fight. It is unclear whether or not Showtime plans to broadcast an undercard for this, but it would make sense to show that fight for the same reason in my view. They are very likely to air Joshua versus Povetkin next, after all.
As for the fight itself, here is what I wrote when it was announced:
Anthony Joshua will be the big favorite here. The two big men share one common opponent in Carlos Takam. While the Cameroonian did have some success against Joshua and the stoppage was questionable, he had even more against Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) in New Zealand. That 2016 fight felt like it was won for Parker more by Takam running out of gas than being outgunned.
Of course, boxing doesn’t work by the transitive property. Common opponents are only part of the picture. We have also seen Parker struggle to narrowly win against Andy Ruiz Jr and Hughie Fury, the latter of which in an absolutely dreadful fight. This is in contrast to Anthony Joshua who holds that memorable and dramatic win over Wladimir Klitschko last year while having also largely dominated his other nineteen opponents.
Joseph Parker and his team are making the claim their English opponent has a glass chin that will be exposed though. If they are right, it will be a result come fight night on March 31st. Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales and its 70,000 plus capacity will once again play host as it did last time out for Joshua against Takam. The WBA, IBF, and WBO titles will all be on the line. Sky Sports Box Office will have the event in the UK.
