Showtime looks to lock up Anthony Joshua for "the rest of his career"

Showtime Stevie is wheelin' and dealin'! Or he's at least trying to for the time being. The potential marketability for newly-minted IBF heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua pretty much speaks for itself, and Showtime executive Stephen Espinoza is looking to capitalize long-term. As a matter of fact, according to Espinoza, he's trying to sign Joshua to a Showtime deal that would run for the rest of his career.

"We're in discussions to finalize that but that's certainly the intention," Espinoza told RingTV.com regarding a long-term agreement with Joshua. "We originally had wanted to have him on before in his last fight -€” the Dillian Whyte fight (in December) - logistics didn't work because we had another fight on that same date, but we were glad that we finally got to do the debut, and we hope to continue to feature him for the rest of his career."

The 26-year-old Joshua is a physical specimen, one that looks like he was carved straight out of a marble slab. And with the style and power to put on a show for hardcore and casual fans alike, he just might have what it takes to become this generation's Mike Tyson. Seeing that, it's really no wonder why networks might be fawning over they guy.

"Anthony has all the tools inside and outside the ring," Espinoza said. "He's obviously skilled, a lot of power, says all the right things, very articulate, good looking, great for the sport and is already a huge draw in the U.K. So I feel like this is the beginning of the the U.S. market discovering him and I think it will be a pretty quick process as impressive as he was."

Whether or not Espinoza will be able to ink Joshua to a long term deal is sort of up in the air, but I certainly can't blame him for trying to shore up his roster for years to come.