Anthony Joshua takes on Oleksandr Usyk for the second time this weekend, hoping to reclaim the heavyweight titles he lost to the Ukrainian last 12 months.
The Usyk vs Joshua 2 fight will probably be available for viewers within the UK on Sky Sports Box Office, costing £26.95, with the fundamental event expected to start at around 10.15pm BST on Saturday evening.
The high pay-per-view fee makes it one of the lucrative sporting events of the 12 months, nevertheless piracy experts warn that it would likely end in thousands and thousands of boxing fans on the lookout for illegal live streams to observe the fight free of charge.
Illicit streams have develop into a typical feature of major live events in recent times, and are easily found through search engines like google and yahoo like Google and DuckDuckGo, in addition to on popular sites like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit.
Despite some streaming services only being profitable through a barrage of online ads, others seek to take advantage of the event’s popularity by scamming visitors to the sites.
Recent research from cyber security firm Opentext Security Solutions found that 90 per cent of fifty streaming sites analysed were classified as “dangerous”, with over 40 per cent not having the crucial security certificate.
“These illegal streaming sites are sometimes run by criminal enterprises to realize users’ personal data and sell them on,” Kelvin Murray, a senior threat researcher at Opentext Security Solutions, told The Independent.
“Because the individuals who run these sites develop into savvier, the scams that they employ to trick users into giving up their data will probably be harder to identify. Subsequently, we recommend avoiding these kind of web sites and never putting yourself at risk.”
The proliferation of illegal streaming sites, and the convenience with which they will be found online, saw nearly 10 million people watch the fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder last 12 months.
In an effort to guard rights holders and clamp down on the spread of free links to observe high-profile events, the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) launched a campaign in 2021 to spread awareness in regards to the risks involved.
Within the build-up to this weekend’s fight between Joshua and Usyk, FACT CEO Kieron Sharp said: . “Viewing content illegally puts users’ data at significant risk from hackers and organised criminals and, worryingly, exposes children to explicit content.
“To guard our youngsters in addition to our data, audiences must watch content only through the legal providers.”
