Today we are DAZNed and confused.
When top heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte (24-1, 17 KOs) took on longtime British veteran Dereck Chisora (29-8, 21 KOs) to close out 2016, no one knew the treat we were all in for until the two combatants were in the ring. Whyte was the ascendant fighter rising through the ranks and Chisora just looked like an interesting scalp to hang on his wall promotionally. Whyte did get his hand raised in the end too, but he had to earn it. The all out war was as compelling and as close of a fight as there was that year. To see it come from heavyweights was quite the sight.
Since then Whyte has still risen to world level as expected while Chisora has still sort of fluttered around as a high level regional fighter. The rematch was floated as an idea here and there, but it seemed like Dillian was just on too much higher of a level at this point for it to happen. Then Dereck Chisora scored an upset, come from behind stoppage victory over longtime world fringe contender Carlos Takam in July and the equation changed.
It was a surprise to no one and a delight to many when the rematch was signed on for this weekend. Whyte-Chisora II is more likely to be a Dillian Whyte showcase at this point than another epic war, but to be honest the first one seemed more likely to play out that way too. It certainly didn’t. What seemed completely certain is that streaming service DAZN would carry the fight stateside. After all, promoter Eddie Hearn and his company Matchroom Boxing had signed on for a much publicized ten year, billion deal for the service to be the home of his shows in America.
Today Showtime announced it has picked up the fight. Today we all scratched our heads for a few minutes. What we’ve learned thanks to some solid reporting from more connected men to than me beyond where this particular will be shown is that there is a giant asterisk on what cards DAZN has the rights to from Matchroom Boxing. If the shows are PPV broadcasts in the UK, DAZN does not have exclusive rights to them. Whyte-Chisora II is a Sky Box Office PPV and Showtime leaped in to capitalize.
The implications here are very important, especially in regards to the heavyweight division. Of course the fight everyone wants to see potentially is the matchup between three belt British superstar Anthony Joshua and American titleholder Deontay Wilder. One of the perceived potential hold ups here is the American broadcast rights. We now know that that is not actually an issue at all. Anthony Joshua will always fight on British PPV and therefore never be exclusive to DAZN if someone else wants to make an offer.
The next question becomes what exactly is Showtime’s specific interest in Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora. Is opening the wallet for the fight a good will gesture towards Eddie Hearn and Matchroom in hopes of making Joshua-Wilder in 2019? Are they looking to just start being the home of the heavyweights in general? Is the Whyte-Chisora II winner specifically being looked at as a likely enough 2019 Deontay Wilder opponent that they want to familiarize the Showtime audience with them? Or is this not about Matchroom, Showtime, Wilder, Joshua, or either of these two fighters specifically? Is this about DAZN not attracting enough eyeballs and subscribers? There are many possibilities and angles to approach this surprising bit of news from, but ultimately all we can do is speculate at this point.
I would argue this is also a serious blow for DAZN. One of the main hooks of the streaming service was that it is now the home of the sport’s two biggest stars in Canelo Alvarez and Anthony Joshua for just $9.99 per month. Except now we know that it isn’t necessarily the home of Anthony Joshua at all. The Whyte-Chisora II card being missing isn’t a big blow in itself for the fledgling US streaming service, but the implications of the hole in the schedule just might be.
