Anthony Joshua lost £3m (N1.4bn) worth of sponsorship money after getting outpointed by Oleksandr Usyk the first time they encountered off last year.
The 32-year-old forfeited his heavyweight title to Usyk when the pair fought in London last September. Joshua was on a mission to win back his belts when the rivals met for the second time in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in August, but he lost yet again, as he suffered his second defeat in a row and third in the last four.
New financial records for Joshua’s company 258 Management showed a 35 per cent reduction in turnover from February last year to February 2022. In the financial year leading up to February 2021, Joshua made almost £8.5m through endorsement deals with Under Armour, Hugo Boss and Beats.
That figure dropped to almost £5.5m in the next financial year, meaning the former two-time heavyweight champion saw around a 35 per cent loss in endorsements. Breaking down the numbers, Joshua’s most significant loss in revenue came from the Non-EU area, which reduced by £3.6m in the financial year leading up to February 2021 to £1.6m in February 2022.
Joshua was in talks for a heavyweight title fight against WBC titleholder Tyson Fury in recent weeks. Still, the domestic clash is seemingly off after both parties could not reach an agreement. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn blamed the unrealistic deadlines Fury put on the fight being finalised as the reason for talks collapsing.
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