Klitschko vs Leapai: Eurosport picks up fight for UK audience

Neither Sky Sports nor BoxNation will air the April 26 fight between world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (61-3, 51 KO) and challenger Alex Leapai (30-4-3, 24 KO), as Eurosport has secured the UK rights to the fight, which is a minor upset, but a big get for the channel.

This may also indicate that in the United Kingdom as in the United States, interest in Klitschko fights is simply not there, allowing a channel not known for high-end boxing to pick up the fight. In the States, few Klitshcko brothers fights have aired in the U.S. in recent years on HBO or Showtime, and those that have have been roundly criticized each time. For a while, Epix was trying to make a run in the boxing market largely based on overseas heavyweight fights, which clearly wasn't working out, as the network cut boxing from its programming last year.

At this point, Sky Sports works pretty much exclusively with Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing, while BoxNation, of course, is the home of Frank Warren's fighters, as well as the Sauerland Event fights from Germany. Maybe Klitschko's relevance, at least against a relatively low-end opponent like this, is truly waning as the reign goes on.

As always with Klitschko, the fight will air in Germany on RTL, as well as on Main Event PPV in Australia. The fight does not have an American showing as of now, and considering it's about two weeks away, we're probably at the point where either AWE TV makes a bid or nobody's going to show this fight here.