Showtime signs Anthony Joshua, boosting heavyweights’ revival

In a deal that signals the resurgence of boxing’s heavyweight division, Showtime and unbeaten new heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua of England announced a multi-fight agreement Wednesday.

Joshua, 26, will open the deal June 25 when he makes the first defense of his International Boxing Federation belt against unbeaten Southland heavyweight Dominic Breazeale at London’s O2 Arena.

Later that night on CBS, Showtime will present the World Boxing Assn. welterweight title fight between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter and the WBA featherweight title bout between champion Jesus Cuellar and Hawaiian Gardens’ former three-division world champion Abner Mares from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Joshua (16-0, 16 knockouts) won a super-heavyweight gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, and he dominated North Hollywood’s Charles Martin by second-round knockout last month to take Martin’s IBF belt.

In Breazeale (17-0, 15 KOs), Joshua meets a fellow 2012 Olympian who stands an inch taller and is coming off a stirring January victory at Staples Center, in which Breazeale got off the canvas in the third round and broke veteran Amir Mansour’s jaw, forcing him to quit on his stool after five rounds.

Joshua’s rise to prominence comes as England also boasts a heavyweight champion in Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs), who will defend his World Boxing Organization and World Boxing Assn. belts July 9 against the former long-reigning Wladimir Klitschko in Manchester, England.

The sport’s glamour division that made legends of Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Joe Frazier has been on an extended hiatus from great mainstream attention since Mike Tyson’s 2002 knockout loss to England’s Lennox Lewis.

Showtime’s connection to Joshua could also help facilitate a showdown against World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) of Alabama, who’ll defend his belt in Moscow on May 21 against Alexander Povetkin.