No Riyadh mission? Boxing 2024

[diggedy derek]

Thought I’d start a new thread as the old one is a bit big, but more importantly, there’s a formidable line-up of boxing planned this year.

We will likely see the first undisputed heavyweight of the four belt era – here’s hoping it’s the humble, goofy Ukrainian. We have three undisputed champions in the men’s code, and those belts will start to get broken up which means some very big fights. There are two significant super fights on the horizon, Canela versus Benavidez at Super Middleweight, and Berterbiev versus Bivol at Light Heavyweight. And we are lucky enough to be watching two sure-fire all-time greats of the sport in Terrence Crawford and Naoya Inoue.

In the women’s code, we will or at least should be seeing the final couple of fights of the greatest of all, Katie Taylor.

Amid all this, the Middle Eastern money is making things unpredictable, exciting and morally dubious.

There’s a couple of very good fights coming up in the weeks to come, including Jaime Munguia versus the admirably tough John Ryder, and things continue with an excellent British showdown between Joshua Buatsi versus the coolest dude in the British boxing, Dan Azeez.

[diggedy derek]

That fight between Callum Smith and Artur Berterbiev last night was decent enough, but mainly served to underline how scarily good (and just plain scary) Berterbiev is. He remains the only boxing world champion with a 100% knockout record.

Callum Smith is a decent enough fighter but has languished for the last 3-4 years with few fights. He's unlikely to add to his legacy much, now, although I guess he could try and fight in the British Light Heavyweight round robin with Yarde, Buatsi and Azeez, though I'm a bit queasy about him dedicating himself to that at the age of 33 after such a brutal defeat.

[diggedy derek]

gah, Fury Usyk, the undisputed Heavyweight championship of the world is... postponed due to a Fury cut in sparring

[caja-dglh]

It is one heck of a cut as well

[diggedy derek]

gah, Fury Usyk, the undisputed Heavyweight championship of the world is... postponed due to a Fury cut in sparring

[Gangster Octopus]

Worth repeating...

[diggedy derek]

Gives us time to ponder Joshua Buatsi against Dan Azeez tomorrow night, in the battle for South London Light Heavyweight supremacy. It's a tremendous fight, the classy Buatsi against the relentless Azeez. I really want Azeez to win, because he's like some time-traveller from the 1980s: he models himself on Marvin Hagler, he's steadily worked himself up through regional titles, and he ring-walks to Earth, Wind & Fire. He seems like an amazingly cool guy.

Buatsi I like too, a thoughtful guy who's a brilliant natural finisher, but has lacked relevance since winning an Olympic bronze medal. I thought that Azeez's activity might give him an edge, but I think Buatsi looks focused, and if he boxes like he can, he will win this.

[diggedy derek]

Perhaps predictably Buatsi's class won out. Dramatic fight but Azeez struggled a bit to get close and Buatsi landed hooks up and downstairs all night. Nothing left for Buatsi on the UK scene except the main man at Light Heavyweight: Anthony Yarde. He's beaten Lewisham, next up, Hackney.

[diggedy derek]

It's a big one this weekend, with Joshua returning to the ring against one-time UFC Heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. It has a touch of novelty, but I'm excited for this fight. Joshua has been gathering momentum with some decent wins, and Ngannou's debut in boxing was stunning, albeit against a clearly unfit Tyson Fury. Joshua has taken the fight as he's confident he can do better than Fury and put himself in the frame against the future undisputed champion once Fury fight Usyk – I like the activity and the can-do attitude. I think Joshua should win if he has a solid gameplan and sticks to it – Ngannou should offer less surprises, and in a straightforward boxing match Joshua should have too much. But who knows.

Parker-Zhang on the undercard is a sensational fight. I like Joseph Parker and he's coming off a career best win against Deontay Wilder. But Zhang is serious, he's technically excellent and hits hard. Unless Parker can be as quick as dynamic as he used to be I reckon it'll be a long night

[diggedy derek]

Although I'm not going to link to them, the promo films released for some of these big Saudi fights are quite striking.

[diggedy derek]

That was a sensational fight between lanky featherweight Rey Vargas and the pocket rocket Nick Ball, who is fully six or seven inches shorter. Vargas took every single one of the first six rounds, before Ball turned the tables in the second half and knocked him down twice. The judges gave it a split draw, any result
would have been reasonable, and a rematch is a must.

[diggedy derek]

This card in Saudi Arabia for some reason still rolling on at nearly 3am local time. Farcical organisation.

That said, hard not to be made up for Joe Parker. He outmoves and outworks Zhilei Zhang who looks like he'd run out of gas. What a double headed masterpiece by Andy Lee and Joseph Parker, outclassing two of the most feared heavyweights around in Wilder and Zhang. I thought he was finished.

[caja-dglh]

Joshua trying to help you out, dd.

[diggedy derek]

Yes, indeed. Exceptional sharp punching from AJ to send Ngannou back home.

[diggedy derek]

I'm not sure they've showed a replay of that yet. Let's hope Ngannou, an admirable human being, is OK.

[diggedy derek]

There's been some tremendous fights in the last few weeks, even with the postponement/loss of Fury-Usyk. None more so than the drawn British Heavyweight title fight last night between Frazier Clarke and champion Fabio Wardley. It's a tremendous style match-up between the skilled amateur who stayed in Team GB until he was gone 30, and a white collar boxer who came up the hard way. Both men were exhausted at the end. A rematch is a must.

I always want to shout from the rooftops about Sebastian Fundora, who, at nearly two metres tall, is the biggest ever fighter to compete at Super Welterweight. So he's about six foot five, and 11 stone. He looks like Stretch from the Fantastic Four. Even weirder, for a vertiable giant, he prefers to fight on the inside. He looks like the gangly high school geek from an 80s US film comedy, yet he's one of the most feared opponents in world boxing. He beat Tim Tszyu in a close fight but a bad cut for Tszyu just got him home.

There's been a couple of incredible British title fights recently, notably Nathan Heaney against Brad Pauls, another hard, hard fight where both men gave everything. Heaney's ringwalk is probably the most raucous atmosphere in boxing right now.

There's some tremendous media coverage around at the moment too. The fairly new Boxing News regular YouTube show/podcast The Boxing Show is setting a new standard for analysis of the Sweet Science, a bit like one of those Neville/Carragher monday night review shows, serious discussion without hype or soundbites

[diggedy derek]

They're running back the best female fight of all time: Taylor – Serrano 2 is taking place in Texas in July. It's on the same night as the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson farce, unfortunately – Paul was instrumental in making the first Taylor Serrano clash happen.

[Discordant Resonance]

Interesting that it's being livestreamed on Netflix, which will certainly get it a broader viewership than DAZN or Sky Sports Box Office.

[diggedy derek]

Yes, it's a year of transition in terms of broadcasters. Some major TV companies have left the sport – Showtime followed HBO in finally knocking it on the head. But digital streaming doesn't seem to have gathered much momentum as yet with DAZN floundering and messing customers about.

The big mainstream streaming companies are trying to fill that vacuum. But it's been a difficult start. Amazon Prime's first major card with Premier Boxing Championships was a bit of a farce with grizzled veteran Keith Thurman pulling out injured. And Netflix and Amazon Prime aren't used to broadcasting live events as yet. Maybe that'll improve.

[diggedy derek]

Against all odds and reason Garcia Haney is fight of the year thus far. But who the hell won it? I have Garcia

[diggedy derek]

Garcia takes it and the poster boy has finally lived up to the hype. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a fight like that. To round it off, Garcia does not take the world title, as he missed weight.

I honestly thought this fight should have been cancelled over concerns over Garcia’s mental wellbeing