By: Sean Crose
A dedicated North American boxing fan no doubt has known for a while that Anthony Joshua will try to win back the heavyweight belts he lost last fall to Oleksandr Usyk when he rematches the masterful Ukrainian this coming weekend in Saudi Arabia. What that dedicated North American boxing fan hasn’t known, however, is how to watch that fight come Saturday. The question has now been answered – North Americans will be able to view Usyk-Joshua 2 live from their North American homes on the DAZN streaming service beginning at noon Saturday, eastern time. Even more exciting for those North American fans is the news that the fight will not be a pay per view event in this portion of the world.
Usyk surprised some people last September when he outboxed the popular Joshua in Joshua’s British homeland in order to become the heavyweight division’s WBA, IBF, and WBO champion. Joshua, however, isn’t one to take a loss lying down (just ask Andy Ruiz) and so a rematch was made. Truth be told, the fight would have likely gone down sooner had Russia not invaded Usyk’s Ukrainian homeland last winter. After hunkering down with his countrymen, however, Usyk was permitted by his government to get in the ring with Joshua once more.
“I am working hard in my training camp to be in the best shape possible for the rematch,” says Usyk, via DAZN. “With the help of the Lord, I will overcome the biggest challenges to make it happen. I want the crowd to be excited with the fight. I want them to remember it for a lifetime.” Former champion Joshua is eager for a memorable evening, as well. “August 20 is set to be an unbelievable night of Championship level boxing,” he says. “For any sports fan, this is not to be missed. It has all the ingredients to go down in boxing history.”
DAZN will be broadcasting the fight in almost 200 different countries, while England, Ireland, the Ukraine and MENA will have different broadcast options. “One of the biggest heavyweight rematches in the history of the sport,” states DAZN on its news site, “the ‘Rage on the Red Sea’ will see Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) looking to avenge his defeat in September 2021 to Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs), who is putting his WBA, IBF, and WBO belts on the line in a career-defining clash.”