ANTHONY JOSHUA vs OleksandrUsyk will be broadcast on Sky Sports Box Office in a shock £25 million deal.
AJ, 32, ditched the household broadcasters last month to sign a big-money deal with the sport streaming upstart DAZN.
But his August 20 Saudi Arabia rematch with the 35-year-old Ukraine icon was not part of the long-term deal.
Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn sold all the rights to the Jeddah showdown to the Middle Eastern hosts.
And they have enjoyed holding a bidding war among DAZN and Sky Sports, while offering BT Sport and the BBC the chance to bid.
DAZN walked away from the auction on Thursday when they realised the 30 million dollar investment required would struggle to earn a worthwhile return.
And, win or lose the WBA, IBF and WBO belts, DAZN will broadcast Joshua’s future fights after this, while Sky will lose their once star attraction.
SunSport asked the Hammersmith-based firm for comment but were refused.
Sky felt they were 99 per cent certain to keep Joshua on their Box Office platform after his deal expired from the September points loss to Usyk.
But they were rocked when he walked away for a more lucrative deal.
Sky can now decide whether they use Joshua’s promoter Hearn to help flog the fight, or they snub him in revenge for leaving them last year.
If AJ is successful in the Middle East, he will become a three-time world heavyweight champion.
He first won the IBF title against Charles Martin in 2016, before going on to claim the WBA strap against Wladimir Klitschko and WBO belt against Joseph Parker.
Joshua lost all three titles to Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019, before taking them back later that same year.
And then last September, Usyk wrestled the belts away from the Brit once more.
