It was a privilege to be live at the arena for the light heavyweight championship fight between Artur Beterbiev and Anthony Yarde at Wembley Arena.

Beterbiev is showing some signs of wear and tear, despite his continued excellence, and I would make him an underdog were he to fight Dmitry Bivol.

Yarde now looks to be one of the best at the weight, however, I think there’s a danger in overpraising him in defeat. It’s a fool’s errand to rate someone based on their losses and Yarde is still a man without anything approaching a defining win. He is now 1-3 in significant career fights, the sole victory his rematch thrashing of Lyndon Arthur.

The undercard of the show, however, was a different story.

I must admit I was entertained by the Jake Paul-Tommy Fury WWE style face-off, the Karol Itauma upset loss and Moses Itauma’s debut, but the rest of the bouts were fairly turgid.

The rest gave a new meaning to the old boxing cliche of the ‘learning fight’. I learned to turn off the TV the next time a couple of those boxers come on the air.

For me, Joe Markowski of DAZN is an increasingly unlikeable character.

This interview from Pro Boxing Fans is the only one I’ve seen where someone on that side of the fence is truly pressed about the DAZN 30 day cancellation policy in the wake of the recent steep price increase.

It takes people outside of boxing, or on its fringes, not reliant on its incestuous ecosystem to ask questions without fear of being blackballed.

Markowski’s “people can do their own homework and maths on what content they want to watch” evasiveness when pressed about the certainty that large numbers of subscribers who don’t cancel on the same day they subscribe will find themselves double charged is risible.

This Youtube comment illustrates the confusion:

It’s also fairly galling to hear Markowski say “we have subsidized [hardcore boxing fans’] content consumption for a long time”.

The spin is nauseating when we all know the aim is to rinse the casuals with the higher monthly price, as well as the discerning hardcores who don’t trust that they’ll get value for money every month. DAZN is coming perilously close to earning its “dead zone” nickname.

The sad reality is I don’t see value for money anywhere currently, on either side of the Atlantic, when it comes to fans subscribing to a service/channel with the primary objective of watching top tier boxing.

Francis Warren when dapper George takes over from Big Frank:

When is Kinahan going to give up already?

MTK v3.0 is here, ladies & gents #boxing https://t.co/LmeDAlIQW1 pic.twitter.com/WjxlrT2H8P

— BOX.LIVE (@boxIive) February 14, 2023