By Charles Brun: DAZN may have made a HUGE mistake in signing fading former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua to a huge deal, which they could soon regret after he faces Oleksandr Usyk in their rematch next August.
DAZN signed the 32-year-old Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) to a deal that makes him a brand ambassador, special adviser, and shareholder for their company.
Joshua, who has lost two out of his last four fights, and is heading for a near-certain third defeat, will be on DAZN’s strategic advisory board. DAZN is obviously making a move to pump up the subscribers in the UK.
You can argue that British fans are more forgiving of Joshua losing repeatedly and being a shadow of the fighter he once was than U.S fans. American fans lose interest in fighters once they’re over the hill, which Joshua is clearly showing signs of being.
Look at how the UK fans haven’t given up on Derek Chisora after 12 defeats. When you look at it from that perspective, it makes sense for DAZN to be dumping huge money into signing the fading Joshua. It’s still troubling, though.
When you look at other sports like baseball or the NFL, there have been countless examples of teams signing players that had physical problems, and they would turn out to be terrible failures.
In the case of Joshua, it’s so apparent that he’s fading. All you got to do is look at his resume to see that he’s on the downside of his career, and he’ll likely be finished after he faces Usyk on August 20th.
If Charles Brun were one of the ones on the DAZN team that voted on whether to sign Joshua or not, he would have given it a downvote. How do you sign a fighter that is clearly heading into oblivion like AJ? It’s senseless.
“DAZN’s vision and passion to innovate is what attracted me to the partnership. They are leading the digital landscape in sports and the future of sports broadcasting. I am really looking forward to a long and successful partnership,” said Anthony Joshua about his signing with DAZN.
Hopefully, we don’t see a controversial decision win for Joshua over Usyk because a lot of money is being poured into signing the fading AJ. If you’re Usyk, it would be a good idea to make sure you score a knockout of Joshua on August 20th. I mean, Usyk is really up against it with this fight.
This fight for Joshua and DAZN is very, very important. It’s a match that Joshua cannot afford to lose, so Usyk needs to have his eyes open to what he’s walking into.
It’ll be interesting to see Joshua’s next move if he loses to Usyk on August 20th. Does Joshua dump his new trainer Robert Garcia, and blame the loss on him, or does he hang up his gloves?
